Requiem

Senescent, wasting, her breath rakes across hospital linen.

Tonight, a whispered invitation floats toward her hospital bed: the ferryman has saved her a seat on the prow and they shall set sail by dawn. Her hair will once more fly in the breeze.

She refused chemotherapy and cut off her breasts.
Her children are pulled ever to her bosom,
faces pressed relentlessly into bitter scars,
airless.

Under the sheet, she is still.