"Dying, She Was Someone Else"

My mother died of emphysema at age 70.  

She never could stop smoking, even after she was diagnosed and was very sick.

  "Dying, She Was Someone Else"

Dying, she was someone else to me

and to herself perhaps or more entirely

herself than any other time, pared down

for the essential battle to breathe.

Great-eyed with each wrack of coughing

as if in awe—of what I am not sure

perhaps of what she could endure

perhaps at the enormity of pain

perhaps in fear of not enduring.

Trembling hands, oddly brown against the sheet,

after I was gone, lay still.

Alice Roy is a retired college professor living in Washington State. 

 

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).

SHARING STORIES is featured on www.northwestprimetime.com, the website for Northwest Prime Time, a monthly publication for baby boomers, seniors, retirees, and those contemplating retirement. The newspaper can be found in the greater Seattle area and other Puget Sound locations. For more information, call 206-824-8600 or visit www.northwestprimetime.com. To find other SHARING STORIES articles on this website type "sharing stories" in the search function above.

---