A WELL TRAVELED HEART

Tag: end of life

  • THE TALL STRANGER

    THE TALL STRANGER

    When the tall stranger 
steps into my kitchen in his tux
asks for coffee and brioche,
I’ll slip up to my room
don my gown, plait my hair 
curl with a favorite book
in my reading chair.
With wind brushing my skin
soft music in the air,
I won’t invite him in.
But when his face appears,
I’ll smile and say
“Darling, I’ve been waiting here.”
  • FLYING FREE

    FLYING FREE

    To go in a puff of feathers, a glory of days,
    Soft as clouds of air
    Gone – gone – gone.
    There are worse things,
    Lying there
    Suffering in white sheets – tethered to machines’
    Endless beeping – intake and outtake monitors -
    The blue of fluorescent lights pulsing about you.
    A constant parade of people checking, checking, checking,
    Reluctant to let you go in case they might save you.
                ‘For what?’ is the unasked question.
                ‘For what – please?’
    It’s late in the day for golf.
    Americans fear death like quiet.
                Both are becoming hard to find.
                Shop Rite makes me bless my deafness.
     
    Feathers and glory
    It isn’t all bad to explode out of life
    Black feathers against a blood moon.