hospice

A grandiose bed in the middle of the living room, left no space for anything except the elephant of death and all the tubes and machines that matched the ragged rhythm of your breathing. The faint smell of cigarettes rolled across the air as you spoke in a feathery whisper. Soft, see-through skin barely covered the bones and sickly purple veins. There was still a twinkle in your pale eyes when we said something witty for our age. Your daughter tried to joke about when you said “I’ll give this to you when I’m gone.” Then the day with the tear-stained grey t-shirt. Even his shoulders that were meant for crying on drooped in despair and longing for just one more day. But even then, there was the smell of cigarettes, so much sweeter now to our noses and the paper dolls you used to make still danced.

#poems #onlydiamondsremain #kaleidoscopeeyes #thoughts #feelings #hospice