Nighttime
The night nurse was kind as she tucked me up tight;
Her hair was dark auburn, her eyes blue and bright.
She said, “Come now, sleep; it’s the end of the day.”
Then she bid me goodnight though I wished she would stay.
The pains were not bad and I slept for a while;
I briefly awoke and thought of your smile;
I wanted to stay conscious to see if you’d come
But I started to hear distant drums.
The poet has said that no man is an island
And I seemed wandering alone in dark sea.
I was floating, desperate, looking for land
Until in a vision you came back to me.
I felt sure you weren’t real as I stared at the deep;
I believed it was all in my mind
Until you held onto my hand and said, “Darling, sleep,
Now it’s my turn to be kind.”
You started to fade, a bright cloud upward lifting;
I still wondered if I was lost in a dream.
But soon I found my body was drifting
And then you said, “Please come with me.”
In a pool at my feet were pearl oysters,
On a branch a bright cockatoo.
Music chimed down from heaven’s cloisters;
I knew I’d be forever with you.