On Deathbed's Altar

On deathbed's altar On his deathbed His altar He prayed He prayed For forgiveness As his mind regressed To earlier times His childhood His mother's deathbed He wanted to exit on a beautiful canvas Happy thoughts Beautiful colors But his mind kept wandering Regressing to his childhood and bad thoughts His father ... his evil ways His breathing labored There wasn't much time He remembered the day His father came home drunk He was only seven, then The family Labrador was only a pup And dad drove off with his three children in tow And discarded the whimpering pup into the woods As his three kids cried louder Dad don't do that, please Please dad he's only a pup Dad please He didn't want to hear us He cursed us and said to grow up A hospice nurse entered the room, then Looked over him, and let him go in peace As death's reach came closer Shadowing his bed, as tears welled in his eyes His life, his canvas filled with so many gray areas His prayers one step he be, drowned out the regrets Drowned out the grays At that point that was best rendering for his canvas He begin to sing a song A happy song, a nursey ryhme from his childhood Like the same one he sang on his mother's deathbed And one his mother sang when he was a baby Oh MacDonald's had a farm E-I-E-I-O And on his farm ... and And before the song was over he passed Unlike before, there was peace on his face A calming expression The next morning's dawn ... she left a ti leaf on his bed connie pachecho 1/10/17