The Parting
I took you for your final walk
On that crisp and sunny day
The blanket round your
shoulders
To keep the chill at bay
We didn't talk the way we
should
I filled the gaps with platitudes
Those precious moments lost
To a pain that I eschewed
I didn't want to let you go
And I could not conceive
That love could hurt so very
much
As it prepared to take its leave
In the hospice garden, so
manicured and neat
My language and vocabulary
Seemed weak and obsolete
In the days that followed
You raised your hand to greet
The friends that came to visit
When you could barely speak
On my first day at school.
I held that hand so tight
you walked me to the
playground
And made everything alright
I watched your fast decline
As the cancer took a hold
I saw your nighttime sweats
And I felt your hands turn cold
And at nights when I got home
My grief went "supersonic"
As I rocked in anguished pain
Fuelled by loss and gin and
tonic
You just wanted to get home
I saw the ambulance arrive
I watched them wheel you out
And you seemed barely alive
I thought it callous, cruel
To move you in that state
But when you lay in your own
bed
Your fears seemed to dissipate
We all knew that you would
leave
In a day or maybe two
So the family gathered round
To say goodbye to you
And time seemed to lose
dominion
As those final hours passed by
Your eyes no longer opened
your lips looked cracked and
dry
And on that final night
We all gathered round your bed
All those that really loved you
Came to say what must be said
But sleep lay heavy on us all
In the early morning hours
And since you seemed to
stabilise
We succumbed to slumber's
powers
My brother and I stayed close,
Keeping vigil by your side
As you had always stood by us
As our father and our guide
Your breathing seemed to falter
Now intermittent, soft and
slow,
So I held your hand and
whispered
"Dad, it's ok for you to go..."
I woke the family from their
sleep
We all began to pray,
Anguished faces round your
bed
When you gently slipped away.
I thought I had prepared
myself
But grief engulfed me like the
tide
That swamps the little rock
pools
In that moment when you died
Love forged the links that bind
Which death will not wrench
asunder
Memories mass like treasures
Which times passage will not
plunder
Our souls are intertwined
I the sapling, you the tree.
I will always be a part of you,
And you a part of me.
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