Captain of My Ship

He was in 5th grade and wanted the Lego set for The Nightmare Shark Ship (and a Nerf gun).

He’d been on a pirate ship, so he knew what he was getting into.

This past year, he was a right defensive tackle on his school football team, but for the past two and a half years, he’d been caring for his dad, who had cancer.

He had been a primary caregiver for his father, doing all the hard tasks, from giving medicine to getting him in his wheelchair or on the toilet.

His dad died on October 22nd of this year. So, for 2024, he hopes to go with the flow and play with his friends.

Listener Poet Elizabeth Pringle

Inova Schar Cancer Institute

December 2023

With The Nightmare Shark ship

I will cut through the waters

Sails full, only horizon ahead!

I am the captain and creator!

Brave enough to face

Unknown dangers

And strong enough to care

For my father.

I am ready to command

The waves and the winds

The sudden storms

My harbor is kindness

My pirate’s gold – compass

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He had been a primary caregiver for his father, doing all the hard tasks

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