Overcoming my demurrals
Marian drove me to the hospital
Where the first doctor we saw said
If you had waited you’d be dead
And I thought for the first time ever
It’s not so bad the thought of death
Ignoring for the moment that they would grieve
Those I love
I’d had my three score and ten
And Socrates was right it seemed
Who knows but that being dead is not so bad
And maybe better than grubby life
But still I cannot bear the thought
Literally can’t lift it
That a child anywhere should die
And though my parents predeceased me long ago
I still grieve for them as they would me their child