As family
and friends gathered
Around the
deathbed
Someone silently
hollered,
At my
moribund being, to embed
The
10-minute final warning
Only I could
hear the calling
For my final
thoughts to start pouring
Others in
tears, grasping at straws
Desperately,
ardently pleading
Another fate
would be the draw
Ten minutes
more for sharing
With a loved
one about to forever go
Amid all the
tears, the grieving, the love
Warm clasps,
loving kisses never before
Felt or
sensed as though from up above
What
feelings could I honestly pour
Onto a life
all condensed in one final moment
With muddled
memories of a life in torment?
My cat of
years looked up at me jaded
Yawning,
sticking out its tongue
Away from
the angst, sauntered nimbly
A grim
reminder, little would change
Snub futile
dreams of immortality
Death the
leveler is finally in range
As images of
the past furiously flashed by
I smiled at
the fulfillment I had sown
By the
outpouring of love of those nearby
Forgiveness
and grief leaving me forlorn
Happy that
the ordeal would soon end
Sad at
unknowing what lay around the bend
Darkness
would soon descend
On my being
that I couldn’t defend
Departing
from loved ones onto the unknown
Yet all of
those millions now gone
Had suffered
a fate just as my own
All mostly
forgotten, now ash or bone
Yet we may fear
death as reprimand
Dread her as
highest agony to understand
Truth is we
die longer than being around
And when we
pass, it is the climax
Of
solutions, and problems for death to ax
No more
bills or adrenaline, no more tax
Ready to
leave now
Let me go
now
Pain be gone
Life be gone
Into
nothingness
Into
painlessness
Peace will
always remain
In Death’s eternal
domain
As the soul’s
sole terrain
No more
sighs, no more breaths
After the
certainty of death
Endless silence,
as demise creeps in with stealth
Such a bittersweet piece. Goodbyes, even the ones we go into knowing they are coming, are very hard for all involved... especially if the leaving is final.
ReplyDeleteTrue that Magaly. No words can do justice to Fate's one-way ticket. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteWhy is it we are so unchangeable in life, only death able to do the deed?
ReplyDeleteIntriguing and profound question Amaya. Which raises yet another question: is it the fact of death or the realization of our impotence that will "do the deed", as you put it? Thanks for reviewing.
DeleteNice meditation on death. We will all experience it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Frank. Indeed, we will all meet our end at some point. Yet that has not forestalled anxieties for so many, in the face of about the only certainty for mankind.
ReplyDeleteI think you captured final thoughts well, Kweli. We ponder these last moments too seldom, I believe.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah. I agree that coming to terms with the inevitable is never easy. And no amount of analyzing and writing will do justice to the grand leveler.
DeleteAs images of the past furiously flashed by
ReplyDeleteI smiled at the fulfillment I had sown
By the outpouring of love of those nearby
Forgiveness and grief leaving me forlorn
I have heard so much about past memories flashing in front of our eyes just minutes before death.. sigh.. you capture it so elegantly in your poem.
Sanaa, sometimes I am left wondering whether it is my poetry or your eloquence that is worthy of praise. Regardless, thank you so much for visiting and reviewing.
ReplyDeleteYou've collected all those thoughts of the final moments... fear, sadness, regret.. I don't suppose anyone will ever be prepared for that final goodbye in the end.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. No wonder most prefer to imagine we are immortal --- as an escape, I suppose.
DeleteSuch a mystery death, and our society doesn't like to examine it very closely or talk about it much as if it will call it to us too soon if we do. I liked your perspective of being the one passing on and witnessing the ones around you...even the cat.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gayle. We have mostly left it to religion to explain death. Even then, and no matter our religious persuasion (or the lack of it), the mystery endures. Yes, glad you noticed the cat. The felines are not moved by our dreams of immortality.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if we embrace a life fully knowing that death is always present we might have no need for such an end.Great write.
ReplyDeleteWe are remembered by lives touched along the way, so we best be sure to leave good memories as we pass into the Great Perhaps.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we may take loved ones for granted and assume forgiveness to be a right. Just thinking.
DeleteAlwi, this is like a punch in the gut--so realistic. And why couldn't "they" have shown that love throughout life? I've written poetry from the POV of my own death. When I was a hospice nurse, we used to ask patients to "choreograph" their own death (when appropriate.) Very effective write.
ReplyDeleteGood question Victoria. But as loathed and feared as death is, it nonetheless evokes sentiments like no other, when the final call arrives. Thanks for visiting.
DeleteThose precious minutes at the deathbed of a loved one. Thanks for sharing the link to this with me at my quest4peas.wordpress.com website.
ReplyDelete