Joseph Nicks

May 2nd, 2021 at 2:43 A. M.

there may come a day

when the hours grow 

so painful, you’ll look

forward to your last

as you navigate those desolate 

how much longer? stretches 

of now-companionless persistence

as you remember hearing the rattle 

of her increasingly-labored breathing

slowing like the blades

of a turned-off ceiling fan

or the spokes of a wagon wheel

in the aftermath of the cart’s 

untimely upending

slowing, slowing, slowing

until the vital revolution grinds to a halt

until the life cycle spins no more

slowing, slowing, slowing

down to that monumental

leaden last sigh – could it be this one?

no, one more – and one more

and still one more,

her lungs and heart

will not go gentle

into this grudging “good night”

but at last there comes that moment

when no next inspiration will be heard

and now you know that last one 

was the last