I wanted to believe in it, the word
softer than hospital but still not home—
like any other frame house on the street,
it had a lawn, a door, a bell—
inside, our friend lay, a view
of the garden from her room but no lift
to raise her from the bed. A sword,
the sun plunged across the cotton blankets.
I wanted dying to be Mediterranean,
curated, a villa, like the Greek sanatoria
where the ancients cared for their sick
on airy porticos and verandas
with stone paths that led to libraries.
A nurse entered her room and closed the door.
For the alleviation of pain, I praise
Morpheus, god of dreams, unlocking
the medicine drawer with a simple key,
narcotic placed beneath the tongue.
In the hall, the volunteer offered us coffee.
How could I think the Mozart in G major
we played to distract her could distract her?
Or marble sculpture in the atrium?
"Hospice" by Robin Becker from Tiger Heron. © University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014. Reprinted with permission.
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