A gentle death. Taken in the night, in a deep sleep, slipping away in a warm haze, song of crickets and bullfrogs vibrating in your ears as you drift off. This is what I wish for you, a painless crossing. Not to feel the heat of wildfires, the panic of flood waters, the sharp shock of a drone attack. Not to be blindsided by an accident, feel the devastation of disease or decay day after day. Because I loved you, I wished you a gentle life. But only flowers unfold gracefully, wither reliably. You came into this world in a fog of labor, crying and gasping, the passage a torment. We live as we enter: struggling, grabbing at happiness, gulping lungfuls of air and affection. Who among us can prevent hurt, defy nature’s fury? You had your share of sorrow, injustice, a jagged journey of joy and injury. Who knows how we will end, but even the easy deaths I've witnessed go hard in the last moments, in a violent rush of breath, a rattle before stillness. But still, I pray you leave us gently, carried on a soft breeze after dusk, moving lightly in shadow, breathing the roundness of the moon, smelling the ripeness of the cornfields, perfume of the phlox in the yard, the warmth of care on your skin, in your bones, erasing the suffering, delivering you delicately, as a petal falls, slowly, silently to the ground, a whisper, imperceptible and gone. This is what I wish for you.
Note: Many ask what inspires various poems. This poem was prompted by this week's news of tragic deaths in the fires in Maui and drone strikes in Ukraine which reminded me of many recent losses. It was not written with just one person in mind, but for those I love in general.
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Oh, my. Your words leave me with no words, only sighs and a tiny smile.
I too, return to read this again and again. Thanks Suzanna.