Poetry Month: April 2: The End

As many of you know, I lost my mom recently. When she took her final turn for the worse, I was in Rhode Island with my husband, my daughter and granddaughters--babysitting while my son-in-law recovered from surgery. I ended up flying home unexpectedly to be with my mom and sister and brother.

The End

Alone

in a busy terminal,

I wait for a plane

with hundreds of other people,

equally alone.

Within our own invisible walls,

we watch and hope, and fear

behind our pleasant masks,

and wait

alone.

Alone,

I am going back

to be with family,

to sit with them in silence

in a too-quiet room

with a too-still form

to watch and hope and fear,

to sit in resignation

and wait

as do we all,

in the anteroom of forever.