The Last Laugh

To my uncle, whose spirit never died

You were always smiling


When you ranted to me
about why green was superior
after I mistakenly made all your cards pink
...I'm pretty sure I was six

When your cane became a walker,
I was nine and confused
but you just grinned and asked,
"you wanna learn how to count
to one hundred, in two seconds flat?"

When your walker became a wheelchair
and you couldn't live alone
you said "I have everything I'll ever need,
I have no reason to want to go."


When your wheelchair became a hospital bed
(in the living room)

When they cut your hair
(it used to reach your shoulders)

When they said you may go blind
(i had always liked your eyes)

When you couldn't eat the cake on your birthday
(you loved her vanilla with strawberries)


You'd been comatose at the hospital,
and you smug mf
decided to wake up the day before,
to smile at the freaking nurse!

Through your struggles
and your pain
you managed to never let it take
the smile off your face

And in the end, you got the last laugh
- I mean smile

...and I think there's a lesson in that



(one, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one hundred)