The Appointed Hour

We have lost so many loved family and friends during the last six months that I dedicate this ode to their memories. Through our tears, thoughts and prayers, we know they are now in a better, much happier place. Their suffering is over.

The Appointed Hour

Quietly stepping on silk slippers
without advance warning
save the Doctor’s pronouncement
and a frightening prognosis,

the hour finally slipped in without
loud knocks on the door. Softly,
it entered through wall cracks,
unnoticed by all save the

person ravaged with advance
stages of the disease. There were
no further life-saving procedures.
Until now, brave measures had

prolonged life. Faced with the
inevitable, without fanfare and
swiftly now, the appointed
hour had arrived. Tenderly,

the loved ones touched
the ill one lying unmoving
and breathing shallowly.
Angels softly and silently

removed the suffering which had
of late magnified. With comforting
touches, the angels whispered
that the appointed hour had come.