|
I am at my uncle's nursing home. He is on his death bed. He can only stare and is unable to speak. This is what I believe his eyes to be telling me.
Please don’t turn out the lights
Let me rest on this bed with the lights on
I want to feel this world for as long as I am able
I want to feel my sister’s presence and watch over her until my last breathe
My closed eyes know the brightness
My face feels the warmth
My ears want to hear your voices and not your snores
I just want to know someone is here for me
I have watched the years I had left turn to weeks, then days
Now we have all watched them turn to hours
Our age and hardships have taken their toll
So send my kid sister home for a rest
Send her home because I do not want her to see me suffer
But she won’t go
This I know
She is stubborn - a trait she learned when we were first parted
I was older and it is a day I remember well
The day she was taken out of the orphanage
To work the farm for our grandfather
But her eyes were weak and the rickets had struck
This was the only luck they knew
So during the week
The State boarded her
While she attended a school that could help
So during the week, to and from school
She would stop by the playground to see me
Visiting until she had to go
As for me, I was adopted out by farm families not for love but for my back
Until the State came to rescue me
But our oldest sister was not as lucky
She had to stay on the farm
Our youngest sister was the lucky one
She found adoption into a loving family
Such a blessing for her to not live the life we were dealt
In our teens, when each of us was old enough and able
We ran from Appalachia
First our older sister, then me
Until we sent for our kid sister at fourteen
Our bond sealed in the orphanage
Was now sealed in our memory and heart
A story we understood and did not speak
Everyone we knew already understood
This is the thread of our generation
They all had similar stories
Something that was not discussed
Rather this was something we could just sense
By looking into their eyes
She has cared for me all these years
I see this has worn her down
For my sister’s sake I am torn to stay for her or to leave
Now, I wish the minutes would turn to seconds
All because I do not want to take my sister with me
Yes, she has her children to care for her
These children who treated me like the grandparents they never had
Who I treated like the children I never had
Yes, they will take good care of her like they did me
She will be fine, I know
She watches over me
Just like she did her husband on his dying bed
Now, she will not listen to me
But why should I expect that
I know her ways, her stubbornness
She needs rest, I know
But she doesn’t need to rest where I will be
Now, I long to leave this world
To leave the scars from a childhood of servitude and hard labor
Scars from a life where I labored each day to live
Now, I know my time will be soon
But please leave the lights on until I pass
~ Robert Neff
|
Volume 5 — Compassion and Empathy.
When someone conveys their story, they provide a means for us to understand their perspective of their past and present struggles. We must be able to identify with their perspective. This allows us to understand their story not only from our thoughts and interpretation, but also through their eyes.
These are the lives that live among us, yet we are blind to their presence. We need to be touched inside to remind us we are human. We listeners must understand and appreciate the struggles around us.
Unfortunately, I have found there is a shortage of compassion and empathy in our world. Hence, one of my goals is to stir the reader’s emotions.
I consider Compassion and Empathy to be Reconnecting With Life’s keystone.
|
Read poetry samples from Selected Works From Reconnecting With Life:
Preface - Final edits from Mike Volkman are to be added
vol. 1, Wrapped By My Heart
vol. 1, Reconnecting With Memories From Yesteryear
vol. 2, Immeasurable Distance Between Us
vol. 3, Cry Your Tears For Humanity
vol. 3, Muse's Prodigal Son
vol. 4, Lead With Your Heart
vol. 4, Temptation of the Harp
vol. 5, Everyone Has a Story To Tell
vol. 5, Times Remembered
vol. 5, Leave The Lights On Till I Pass
Photos With a Story
|
