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)