She said goodbye feeling far away
It was so different from biding goodbye, when leaving for a holiday.
Looking into his eyes and seeing that smile that has always gleamed there;
No less a man than when she was young; though bent and stooped by age.
Pleadingly his eyes stared at her, begging for some sort of escape.

Taking his hand into hers she wept.
Sobbing silently at the side of his bed she remembered back when.
When his garden bloomed in the summer and she’d watch him working
from the porch on the back of the house, drinking lemonade after swimming.
She saw him young again, as she wished to always remember him.

Caressing his hand in hers gently,
she remembered how strong and firm it once was -- clean with the smell of earth.
The scars she remembered were still on his hand, streaks of translucent white
against the frail, bony, swollen remnant of what once was her father’s hand
His breathing, choppy, yet steady slowed; a shudder, a wheeze, a gasp.

Her breath caught in her throat…
It was an eternity before his breath came again, the tempo more halting and slow.
Almost, as an after thought she willed herself to breathe; her chest tight and achy.
The time was coming she could tell. She knew it would, yet it hurt unbearably.
She tried to will his breath when at last it stopped, but he had gone

She said goodbye with tears on her cheeks
It was so different from biding goodbye when leaving for college
Looking into his eyes and seeing that he was gone, she looked to the stars
And bid him goodbye once more. She let him leave, knowing it was forever.
“Papa, I love you” she said, as her tears fell to his cheeks and lips.

08/03/2003

Posted on 08/03/2003
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