I Died...

I died today.

I couldn't help it.

All the doctors and nurses
looking sadly on
as I wilted like a flower
left too long in the sun.

My parents,
too strong
for their own good;
too hopeful.

They never gave up,
even when I did.

I didn't go
kicking and screaming,
though, I wanted to.
I went with a sigh
trickling through bloodless lips
as the air came out
in one suffocating rush.

The morphine drip
drove me to it, I think.
That continued nightmare
of drowning in saline solution
and liquid pain-killer,
echoing in my sleep.

I tore my hair out, once,
to make it stop.

It didn't work.

It seems like centuries
since I last saw
the sky -
that glorious blue color,
filled with the rich, fullness of life.

Oh, to live again!

But now,
there is a new sky
above my head.

And the echoing cries
of loved ones left behind
linger on
into the glorious dawn
of my arrival.