Ways to Break a Heart

by Diana Raab (January 2025)

Ways to Break a Heart
–
Telling me you don’t need me.
don’t say good morning.
–
tell me you’re moving out.
take away my journals
–
take away my eyes
tell me you don’t care.
–
don’t listen to me.
don’t put your arm around me.
–
don’t say good night
for the very last time.

What you can learn on a death bed
–
hindsights of wisdom
what is important to you
who loves you
who you can count on
what to say or not say
how hearing is last sense to go
where the bardo lies
who easily faces the sacred moments of death
and how important it is to love oneself
and to comfort those you leave behind.

Your Transition
Dedicated to TMS
––
In the small studio cottage
where you lay down to die
on that cranky hospital bed,
your desk sits in its corner—
–
papers scattered
as if the wind had their way.
The only clarity is a computer screen
where you crafted short stories.
–
Your kitchen without a counter,
jammed with boxed and canned foods,
cabinet doors flung open—
while a mere touch sends
items tumbling to the ground.
–
Your clothes closet beside your bed:
no doors, but a display of T-shirts
from each chapter of your life.
–
The smell of hamburger lingers from
your last meal,
dishes piled in sink:
all signs of neglect and endings.
–
As you lie comatose,
a hospice nurse rummages
around you, and serenades
songs of love, me helpless
–
in the corner during your transition
surrendering to what must be
a much better place for you,
–
I will miss you.
Please call if you can
sorry the virus got to you.

Ancestral Connection

He feeds on red flowers
then flies high up,
Will he visit grandma?
–
–
–

Table of Contents