Bare

Every morning
My bracelet is there
School, home, vacation,
the many visits the hospital,
My arm was never bare
The silver glints in the sun
and under the florescent bulbs
Twist it around
Unhook and hook it
Constant touch
An essential part of the body
They tell me I have to take it off this time
It’s different now they say
It’s worse, I know
I cry as they roll me,
bare arm and all,
Through the winding hallways
My eyes glinting under the florescent bulbs
Three years and that bracelet
Has seen much
The blood they took
The tears I cried
The doctors’ reserved faces
My arm is bare as they sedate me
My arm is bare as the scalpel cuts
My arm is bare as they revive me
Three years and my arm is bare