I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful writers on this journey...
THE JOURNEY TO FOUR HOURS
Your Doula old as sand
Wise as the sea is wide
Brought you into this life
Caught you with her once smooth hands
She knew you before all of us
You told her you were ready to leave
It was your time
The long string of hello’s to goodbyes
Cascaded in webs of ringing telephones
We poured into the small sparse room
Where you welcomed us
Your tribe for the last time
To breath you in - take whatever we needed
The Doula told us it would be soon.
It had been four hours
Since you called
Since I gathered everyone near to your bedside
To hold your hands
We had made our way to wash your feet
To wash your feet
To witness the end of your journey
This moment this fork in the road
The bend without your warmth, your laughter
Without the sheer joy you took at each sunrise
Without that sparkling twinkling in your eyes
Steady my heart to the voids that were coming
Anticipate the thread-bare days without you
We were not ready
I asked you to call my name
Whisper it in my ear so that I would hear it always
When you had uttered each of our names
And let go of our hands
It was the child who opened the window
Opened the window
You took your queue
And hovered above us before sailing away!
Before sailing away
Sailing away
Inspired by Doula, Kathleen Shannon,
who usher souls who are at the end of their lives
into peaceful transitions.
© Kim Brandon 2018