<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Life, the Obstacle Course]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://lifetheobstaclecourse.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[taurusingemini]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://lifetheobstaclecourse.wordpress.com/author/taurusingemini/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[The Hospice]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p style="text-align:center;">On death &amp; dying, translated…</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>In This Place</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>The Trees on the Sidewalks Outside the Windows</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>Seemed Extraordinarily Distant </em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>The Pedestrians Don’t Make a Sound</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>Passing Across Those, Dangerous Crosswalks </em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">with the support one needs at the end of one&#8217;s life, not my photograph&#8230;<em><img src="https://i0.wp.com/wojdylosocialmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-12-at-3.43.19-PM.png" /></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>A Few Parasols Were Blown to Pieces</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>In the Raging Winds</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Skies are Filled</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>With the Signs as Usual</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Purity of the Clouds Resembled that of White-Washed Cottons</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Light from the Dusk Looked Like Blood </em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Like Those Deceased Loved Ones</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Here, We’d, Whispered So Softly </em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>No Longer Hurrying to and fro</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>The Couples Who’d Been Mean to One Another</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Now, Held Hands, Shook Hands, and Made Amends</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.aboutsmh.org/images/hospice.gif" />focusing on the quality of life during the final days, not my photos&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Children Who’d Visited the Parents Once Every Year in the Past</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Now Shows Up Often</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Due to Fear of Death</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>We’d Come, to Respect Life</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>(Especially for Those, Whose Lives are about to be, Gone)</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>Because the Sorrows Weren’t Expressed </em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>So, the Tears Started, Acting Out</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>The Various Scenes</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>Here, I’m Guessing</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>That Everybody Feels Elated?</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em>This Final Passage of Life</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>With the Never-Ending Supplies of Morphine</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Along with the Professional Medical Staff Members</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>They are All, Very Gentle &amp; Kind</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Sun Also, Became Very Punctual</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Entering from the Windows</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>And, Retreated Where It’d, Entered</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Although Life Was Never, Fulfilled</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>As the Days, Cut Short</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>But Here, We’re able to</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><em>Have Some Time, to Remember the Days Gone Past</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">very aged&#8230;not my photograph&#8230;<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Guanajuato_mummy_03.jpg" /></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>With a Little Extra Time, to Pack For Ourselves</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Ready to Leave</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Headed, to Another Place</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>And There’s, Enough Evidence that Showed</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>That We Will All Surely, Get Some Peace &amp; Quiet There</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">So, this is, the words, of a sick, ailing, dying man, I suppose, the individual had, checked into the hospice for a while now, and, s/he is just, waiting, for life to end, and, s/he had already, come to accepting, that life is, about to be over, that, is why, there’s, no fear, no anger in the “tone of voice” of this poem.</p>
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