Hospice Stories

 (A lone voice whispers from the other side)

I kissed and loved her so damm hard with all my mortal might

That ethereal thing I once knew as Life

Held her real tight as I kneeled and prayed inside to the Almighty

That today of all days after the fitting of my syringe driver

I'd be all right

But when I looked up and opened my tear-filled eyes

She had slipped away like a clever thief in the night

Leaving me looking at Death arriving

With all his usual fucking pompous majesty

Singing and humming like a global megastar

Announcing his unwanted bloodthirsty arrival to all the other cancer patients

Who cowered in his sight as he slowly walked towards me and took a seat on my right

Copyright John Duffy

I always wondered what my late father felt after he was admitted to that ward. The dark energy. The silence. This whispered into being. He always said no one leaves a hospice alive. How sad it turned out true in just under three days.