Poetry

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I once had a husband and a home, a family, a best friend named Katie,
a volunteer post at the Salvation Army, and a kitty named Rosie O'Grady.
Then something happened, and I was brought here,
to lie in a bed, hooked to machines, with my parents near.

Fifteen years have passed, and I am here still,
the subject of study at times by the whippoorwill at my windowsill.
I am but a baby, who needs to be fed,
abandoned by the one I loved and wed.

My eyes stare upward at the ceiling,
but it is heavenward to the sky I gaze at with feeling,
as my mother reads to me that sweet story
of the Risen Lord in all His glory.

"I Love Lucy" is on now, I love that show,
still makes me laugh inside, even now so.
Then all grows quiet, and I strain my ears to hear--
O’, what is happening here?

My love has grown weary of me, it seems,
and my heart breaks along with my dreams.
I cannot give him the companionship he so misses--
of words and hugs and kisses.

My mama and papa are at my side,
and I pray, "O, Lord, with me abide."
A tube is removed, I hear my mama cry,
and I know the end is nigh.

There is no music or any of the things that brought me pleasure;
I now know of my husband's infidelity, and in what measure.
I do not want to starve until I die, for that is what brought me here,
and though my body is shutting down, my soul is ready and clear.

I feel my spirit quickening…
…the air in the room is thickening…
serenity surrounds me like a dewy mist,
and I clutch the hand that reaches for me, to eternal bliss.

For fifteen years, I have lived and not simply lied,
in this room that smells of starch and formaldehyde.
I was awake through it all, except when I was asleep,
through the decision of whether my life was of enough worth to keep.

What about babies, who do nothing but eat, sleep, cry and defecate?
What, if that is their life to live for the rest of their life, shall be their fate?
What about those whose bodies cannot function on their own, or those whose minds are not fine,
when do they go, where will they draw the line?

Precious is all life, outside the womb and in,
to destroy it would be a sin.
So let live and let God do the taking,
His will not forsaking.

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