I'd been ashamed of you for years
when you called us together to announce
your cancer, and that it would kill you
At first no one spoke
After a pause I said «I think you are very brave»
and you replied «I don't feel it»
I wanted to hug you for the first time in ages
When you crossed that silent river,
I watched helpless from the other side
as you drifted away like smoke
You talked about death to the nurse, but
asked me to trim the hairs in your ears
The last time you wrote, all your thoughts fused
to a tight black scribble in the centre of a page
and I knew that I must shrug off everything
I had wanted for years to tell you
I thought I saw your dignity fade with your strength
but now I know it stayed with you to the end,
it was only my connection that was lost
I wasn't there to be proud
when you completed your life
with a joke
When I face my own crossing
I hope I will find
something of you has stayed with me
Forward to
Next poem
Back to
Previous poem
Take a
Jump to?