Just give it up bro.
Fighting off
your second heart attack
making the doctors
&
nurses
jumpstart you
like you were an old Mercedes
with a fading car battery.
I wanted you to stop,
end your suffering
&
move on
to your next adventure.
But it wasn’t in you to quit.
It wasn’t in your nature
to give up.
Growing up I‘ve never seen you
take a days off
always being a steady workhorse.
You were a fighter all the way
to the end.
You fought in hundreds of battles
fighting off your demons.
But we couldn’t see you
suffer anymore.
We had to throw in the towel.
You wouldn’t go down
for your own good
because you wanted to die
on your shield.
You were a warrior,
a teacher,
a leader,
a husband.
You were my father.
But you look foreign to me
laying in your death-bed
looking weak
&
frail,
a shell of your former
strong lively self.
You just lay there waiting
for the boatman to ferry you across
to the next world
staring past your family
at the foot of your bed
looking at that whack ass art print
in your room of a tiny sailboat
heading towards a lighthouse.
The meaning was simple
but I wonder if it was meant to be there
making your transition easier.
In any case,
this was your last voyage,
saying our goodbyes.
We will all miss you.
O Captain! My Captain!
Take to the rough seas
one last time
&
head towards the light
onto your next adventure.
