“I Watch”

Pain…

Sorrow…

All this I feel as I Watch your body whither and die, while your brain struggles to keep working.

Bitter tears role down my face as I Watch you suffer in indescribable pain, as the silent assassin creeps through your body.

You do not realize that I am there, as I Watch you, and you continue to mutter to the Almighty to spare you.

Before, I could not bear to be around you, to Watch your life ebb away and follow the Grim Reaper in a slow, untimely death march.

Now, I stand before you and Watch.

Pain and sorrow flow through my heart like a raging river and my tears flow without end.

I bend over you and kiss your cheek, and I continue to Watch your death progress.

Do I sound as if I don’t care and enjoy Watching you die?

I don’t.

I Watch you and Watch you, trying to find the courage to tell you that I love you before my time to Watch you is up.

I fail.

I walk to my home and to my room, watching the stars on the way and knowing that you will soon be with them.

I fall on my bed and cry, my bitter tears flowing forth without any end.

I cry myself to sleep and dream of you walking among the stars in the heavens.

I awake to the news I had feared the most…

You have left our world and gone to another, one in which you would be able to live in without suffering terribly from the silent assassin.

My tears come into view without hesitation and I run outside.

I look up into the sky and Watch.

I have been Watching since then, and I will continue to Watch until my time comes to be Watched…

Dedicated to the Late Huey Shields (1929-2000)