A man faces death with courage, love, and self-assurance in this poem from Heid E. Erdrich.
—
Dying Well
Refused the sugar soaked sponge,
the offer to read aloud a childhood book,
the trembling water glass catching the light.
Refused with a stutter of expression
the hesitant knock at the door,
the one more goodbye.
Waved away embrace
and tender whispers days before,
the day the black-vested Holy Man
touched a last fragrant offering
of cedar to his brow. He asked for nothing.
All comforts he gave back.
He smiled to listen to them laugh.
He let the loved ones know, at last,
with one word: No.
He would not distract his dying, fill his time.
Already the fullness of life squeezed
into his room—he’d send it ahead place by place,
notion by notion, and face by face.
He said no. He had work to do.
His son understood, cleared the room. He withdrew.
***
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