Ode to my grandmother

Last Wednesday I sat with my grandmother at the hospice for a few hours so that I could relieve my mom for a few hours. She was a chatty kathy that day. Talking about certain family members, alive and dead, good memories and pretty much anything that came to her depreciating mind.

When my mom arrived, I said goodbye to her and she looked at me, with tears in her eyes, and asked me not to leave. "Don't go mija. Stay here with your mom and me. You have to be a good girl for your mom and help her out. Don't go mija." Those were the last words she spoke to me. The next day she became incoherable and pretty much out of it.

After I left the hospice I went straight home and, with tears spilling out of my eyes like Niagara Falls, wrote this poem. The end of the poem was inspired by another poem a good friend told me about in which we are reminded that the epitaph on a persons grave is not as important as that dash between the dates, wherein lies the life that person lived. This is dedicated to my grandma, a wonderful and beautiful mother, sister, friend, grandmother, person. No one met her that didn't like her. She was amazing. May she rest in peace.

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She talks as she slips
Stories past, she still remembers
Trying to leave
She's bound to us
Tears escape from unwilling eyes
Should I go?
Memories of dead babies
Brothers, non-existent
She doesn't want to stay
Incoherence, her only friend
Should I stay?
Still so beautiful, never-ending
Oh so strong
Grandmother atlas
Her life was resplendant
Her self, luminescent
Forget the dates
Remember the dash

Te amo abuelita.