Today

Today

Today I held the hand
Of a man as he lay dying.
His chest, rising and falling
In rhythm with the machine
He would have abhorred
Which forced his body to carry on
In his absence.
Without his consent.

Today I held the hand
Of a man I once loved,
Who loved me back.
And thought of our years
Together.
Many good ones,
Some not so good.
All part of our history now.

Today I held the hand
Of the father of my daughter.
A father for my three sons.
A good man
With a big heart
That in the end failed him.
And oddly the pain seemed transferred
To my own strong heart.

Today I held the hand
Of a man slowly slipping
Into the eternities
Unaware of time
Until all the digits turned to zero
And the nurse said
“He is gone.”

And still I held your hand.
Feeling you must know
Despite all that went before
I stood by you in the end
To the very end
So you would not be alone
I stood by your side
And held your hand.

-----
For Doug
Jay Douglas Stauffer, 11/13/48--07/03/09.
Today, July 5th, would be our 30th anniversary.-----

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