NOT TO DIE ALONE.

[dadio]

Don’t let me die alone, she said.
So they gathered all her relatives

And friends around the bed: the
Good, the ugly, the tall, the short,

The friendly; the ones out just for
The money, if there was any, others

Just to say goodbye or watch her die,
The males, the females, the ones in

Between, the ones not so sure; some
Standing quiet, some whispering,

Some praying, some saying in low
Voices what an ass she’d been; others

Just silently wondering, some just
There for the final count, to see a

Death, watch her dying, listening to
The priest muttering, fingering beads,

Uttering words, laying the hands, eyes
Closed; and some stood waiting for

Death to tiptoe in, others to watch the
Rise and fall of her breasts, while some

Counted tick tocks of clocks between
Death’s rattle, some saw her losing the

War and battle; then she died, and they
Left one by one, wrapping what they’d

Seen and heard into small balls of thought
And grief and disappointment and lack

Of faith and dashed hopes and realizing
The way death crept and run its cold finger

Along the spine, just when the mind whispered
To them all, everything is going well, all is fine.

[judih]

War and battle; then she died, and they
Left one by one, wrapping what they’d

Seen and heard into small balls of thought

i love this moment of personal closure
and of course the image is superb
(is it your photo?)

[dadio]

Thank you, Judih. The picture is a digital manipulation of a photo.