I sat with you in the hospital trying to make light of the
situation. You sat there with catheters in your arms and tubes pumping medicine
into your veins.
You didn’t deserve this - so kind and gentle. You deserved
what I had but took for granted. My mind
was dying but so to was your body. I watched you many moments after that day
struggling with your disease wishing we could trade places. Wishing I could
suffer for you instead.
We were both so sick. One of us had no choice; the other had
all the choices in the world.
We laid on the floor in the darkness. I felt your body tense up and your breathing begin to get heavier. I turned around so we were face to face in the
darkness. I could see the outline of concern written across your brow. You
closed your eyes and breathed in deeply. ‘I love you,’ you whispered to me in
the night. I kissed you in return knowing that I could not say it back. I did
not believe you, for you see, who could ever love a monster like me?
He liked you from the start. There was no hesitation. He
could see your soul and your soul held nothing but compassion. You swung his
little body up onto the slide and helped him slide down. I was there at the
bottom to catch him as you had caught me so many times before. We stood there
all three of us and I fantasized that maybe one day this picture would actually
become a reality. A little family of our own.
On my wall there is a hand written note that says ‘I will
love you until the last rose dies.’ I still have that rose forever preserved in
my draw. Surrounded by memories I am not yet ready to let go of. Forever
preserving what couldn’t be. For you have died my sweet and with death so to dies
your love. Your soul has been gifted to another whilst I sit here trying to
come to terms with the fact that you have gone.
I type this slowly with tears streaming down my face knowing
that I will never see you again.
Maybe we can go on a holiday together at some point you said. This is our holiday, our last trip, our final goodbye. We are travelling in opposite
directions with a small hope that one-day we will meet again. But for now you
are gone and it is easier for me to just let you go.
