grief card 37

--- art and prompt by Brianna Hernández Baurichter, Holding Vigil

that anything can happen

any time now, time now

an ocean in all direction –

that the gut's quavers break

this little body into spasms,

pinched everything, fisted eyelids –

that a disease is 

fought, life fought

for –

that statistically, hospices lose

most patients at night, quiet

of pleading family members –

that not loss but the spirit's

commit is mind over body,

even over my dead –

that if I can wade in shallow

breaths, I might whimper

this out –

that the angel of pain

pass over me and pass over

me and pass –

that the faded flowers and leaves

pressed flat look beautiful

and alive –

that silence fits any word and wait,

more than the watchman waits for the morning,

more than the watchman waits for the morning –