Jane Doe in Hospice

A women I visited by accident while visiting my grandmother just before she died. She inspired this piece. She was a Jane Doe, but she was joking and laughing just hours before she passed. She was amazing.

No magic dances

In her eyes.

 

In her eyes,

There’s nothing,

But mist.

 

In her frail fist,

She holds a worry stone,

 

In her bones,

Ache sits like

An angry god.

 

Hold the drama down.

Embrace the coming night.

There’s no need to fight it

Anymore . . . not anymore.

 

Anymore

This whole mess seems

Like a dream that died

At birth.

 

And nothing’s worth the trouble

But peace . . .lovely peace.

 

No magic dances

in her eyes.

No magic dances

Anywhere.

 

Perhaps magic remains,

But nobody’s there to see . . .

 

Hold the drama down;

Go to sleep . . .peaceful sleep.

Author's Note

Everybody dies.
The big question is:
Have you lived yet?

Reviews

[Honeypot]

I think this one is really special and you were lucky enough to glimspe something of her before she died. And I think it says a lot about you that you memorialized her this way. I love this one. Its sad and sort of matter of fact, but underneath I think it shows that there was a spark about her that you saw even if others didn't. Its sad to think that people are put on a shelf and forgotten.

[Emily B]

wow

I can't say it any better than kortas already has. This is absolutely fine writing. We walk a certain walk. It starts in life and ends somewhere after. I don't see the need to fight against that destination. Life and death are so inextricably linked. It is good to witness the transaction once in a while.

[W.k.kortas]

Almost like the anti-Dylan Thomas; no raging against the dying of the light-- indeed, the admonition is to "Embrace the coming night" (I cannot help but think, even though someone has painstakingly fashioned a good ol' boy exterior, that the comparison is not accidental). It's very well crafted, and it has a certain gentleness about it, but it never slips into sticky sentimentality. If you read this carefully, you appreciate how truly well-done this piece is.

[Sam Davidson]

That's incredible, like you see this whole universe in the one woman you've never met before. You'd expect a reader to feel regret at the passing of this unkown woman, but instead you make us feel glad she's lived; not necessarily a great life but a life nonetheless.