Saying Goodbye

Photo by Don MacLeod

Sometimes it takes a while to say goodbye
To someone we love
Death takes them slowly
We want it to take as long as possible
But want it to go quickly too
Life is precious
But to suffer
To suffer and live
Is not easy
We watch
It is all we can do
We
Are helpless
As they slowly leave
Some from cancer
Some from dementia
And then
There are other debilitating illnesses
We don’t want
They don’t want
We are the witnesses
We are being a gift
A wake up call
To look at our own life
To see
That we too
Will not last
That we will be told goodbye someday
It may be a long goodbye
But then
We may not get the chance
To say goodbye at all