You were gone before you went, slipping into final forgetting with each hollow breath. I was your angel, you said, while you sat at the sunny table picking at pancakes and coffee while you still could smile and think meaning. Music kept your eyes alive a while, your feet remembering, thoughtless, but certain of rhythms too deliberate to disappear. You followed my familiar lead, reaching for melody lost with the fading of voice. You didn't believe in demons but I saw them slip inside your skin forcing pain from your pores, folding your face into caverns of anguish and alarm, as steadily, words fled, leaving a frightened keening in their wake. You went before you were gone. And when you went, the world filled again with words.
Further reproduction is by written permission only. We welcome your poetry to share with other caregivers. Submission guidelines