The Right Words

 

Her breathing

shallow, laboured;

life hanging

from a fraying string

and I searching for the right words,

the last words.

What are the words

that should sail the auditory canal

into her final minutes?

What can I say

into the turbulence of her breathing

to repay her love,

allay the fear,

lessen the hardship?

And now, years on,

trying to remember what I did say

as she bobbed on the tide of her dying;

moments when loving care

was reduced to the most caring words;

trying to remember if I had the words.