The Last Cognition
"The silence fades with a soft embrace,"
like twilight slipping beneath hospital blinds.
My body becomes stillness in slow motion—
the breath between two worlds.
Machines hum with patient doubt
as I drift from heartbeat into hush.
Somewhere, a hand still holds mine,
believing I might stir, return.
But inside, I am loosening—
thoughts folding like paper birds,
memories sinking below their names,
the self undoing, gently.
Neurons dim like distant towns at night,
each light a moment letting go.
The mind that once held oceans
now softens into shoreless sky.
Not pain, not fear—just quiet,
settling into the folds of forever.
A hush gathers deep within the brain,
not silence, but a final kindness.
Breath becomes an echo,
heartbeat a distant drum.
Even the machines seem to whisper,
as if they too know I’m leaving.
"The silence fades with a soft embrace"—
no rupture, no sudden dark,
only the slow return to where I began.
I leave no sound, but warmth remains—
like light after a flame is gone,
or a name whispered too softly to hear.
Copyright ©
Aaliyah O'Neil
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