Real Life/Real Death

                                  REAL LIFE/REAL DEATH

He didn't die like they do on TV.
He didn't whisper 'Goodbye',
Close his eyes,
and go to sleep.
He wasn't pale and wan
and painfully thin.
No. My husband did not
Die like I'd seen on TV.

He was patches of colors
He was purple and red
He was swollen and jaundiced.
His eyes didn't look lovingly
into mine
His eyes were yellow and unseeing.

He didn't whisper 'goodbye'...
He grunted and gurgled
and gasped for each breath.
He could hear, though, as
evidenced by his tears
In response to hearing
the farewell voices
of his children.

He did not close his eyes
and go to sleep.
He fought and struggled
and wheezed,
furrowing his brow when
we loudly sang
AMAZING GRACE, and
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE...
his yellow eyes not knowing
where to look.

And when I realized
his breaths had stopped
and the nurse pronounced
him Dead,
I kissed his cheek,
said 'I love you',
then screamed and
jumped back from his bed.
The warmth of my lips had expelled
his last bit of LIFE.
His mouth had let out a loud HISS
and his head had turned to my face.
NOW he was gone.

That is how my husband died.
I was not prepared--
How could I be?

But now I know
what real-life is like
and how real-death
can be.