Dying, Learning

I was there, in the room, the dry stale rays of sunlight breaking through the threadbare shears, covering his draped and tired form, a crowd of familial strangers sharing in the silence of a soul-wrenching loss.

I saw their tear-streaked faces, felt the heaviness of their breath fall upon my damp clammy skin, my heart bleeding in a pool of collecting ache on the floor, my stomach sickening as I choked back emotion.

I watched his chest heave and fall, clinging to and letting go of life with every breath, I felt the spirit walking away.