My Mother's Death Wishes
She called out his name
but he didn't answer
He turned his back a long time ago
never bothering to explain or apologize
Now as she lay dying, she wants to tidy up business,
asking for the man who used to be her son-in-law...
Bequeathing her beloved sewing machine to a beloved niece
Asking for spaghetti
Asking for the dead triumvirate: her sister, mother, and father
She’d like sanitary pads, blue dresses, a carriage for her journey
She wants her brown shoes and the brown sweater given to her by my brother
She wants her family close
Blankets off, then blankets on
hence her favorite-color purple Rosary beads lost to hospital laundry
Once Monsignor Flannigan came,
she no longer worried about going to hell
or the baby she couldn't carry to term
hardly an inadequate mother
She recited the white-board nurse names:
Ashley, Floyd, Sue J., Tanya, TonJ.?
babbling nonsense amidst moments of startling clarity
The human brain a mysterious and reverent thing
covered by hair cleaned and combed
and an angelic face washed and ready
to greet the face of God
In memory of a mom loved and lost (2/24/22-10/02/13)
