Death Came

This poem was written for my mother

DEATH CAME
February 20, 2009

Death came and took
her when I stepped off
the edge of the world.
It took the breath from
her lungs and the life
from her veins with
gentle tugs . . . it coaxed
the oxygen from her brain
and freed the dreams,
the love, the laughter
and took it away like
a current to another shore.
So, slowly, so tenderly,
so innocently death stole
her from the world
and I wasn't there to
say farewell, I love you.