In the immediate aftermath,
those first few minutes in which
my mother no longer breathed,
instead of deathly stillness
there was the ghastly sound
of some poor bastard vomiting
catastrophically on an adjacent ward.

Arriving at last, summoned
by the call button to certify
what was already obvious,
the hospice nurse apologized
for her delay, saying she’d been
with a patient, and I assured her
that no apology was required,
aware as never before how much
the needs of those still living
dwarf the non-needs of the dead.