Periwinkle

It is said that the most

Peaceful way to die is

In your sleep.

No blood, no coughing up

Necrotic tissues drowning in

Yellow-green puss.

No open wounds or otherwise

Physical damage

Visible to the naked eye.

 

Is it also not speculated

That to die alone

Is comparable to the greatest

Agony one can experience?

To lie on the stale sheets

Soaking up your putrid

Breath as you heave your sobs

Into the mattress, pillow atop your head,

To be so alone that the slight

Tinkering of bedside monitors is

Enough to bring forth a pang in your

Heart no defibrillator can set to ease,

The heavy plastic of the cannula

To be the only touch to your cheek.

 

You imagine it being your mother

As you lose yourself to choked sobs,

Dripping mucus down your tubes and

Soiling yourself mid-breath.

 

Found in the morning

Wrapped comfortably in clean linen

They assume you went peacefully.

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