Transition (Last Visit)

Easter morning
Dad told me
Grandmother was in transition.

The doctor had said earlier
she could be kept
alive with a feeding tube

but Dad had said no,
to let nature
take its course.

So after church
the family went to see
Grandmother once more.

She lay in bed
unable to speak and
unable to lie still,

trying to turn over
but with nowhere to turn.
The room stayed silent

as we all just watched
her toss and turn,
open and close her lifeless eyes,

and reach for the bed rails
or thin air or
something we knew

nothing about.  We didn't
stay too long, but it was
long enough to see

the beginning of the end,
transition from life into
death.  It would be the

last time, this I knew well.
But before we left, we all
got to say goodbye.