No One Dies Alone
By John Herlihy

The scene has been repeated for thousands of years;
The body lay supine, eyes no longer have room for tears.
The life has been lived; all is now said and done;
The ball of yarn has unraveled; the web of life is spun.
A beaded curtain in the room rustled, sounding like rain;
All of nature utters sounds without seeming to complain.
The candles flicker, the light has dimmed;
The breath is shallow; the blood has thinned.
We breathe all our lives; we take the air for granted;
In our dying moment, the final breath is scented.
With actions that make up the deeds of a lifetime,
One destiny in which even the darkness did shine.

The breath now labored, the struggle has begun;
One last breath to inhale; one final note to be sung.
No one dies alone, the angel of death is always there;
On eternity’s horizon, counting seconds left to spare.
One breath we are here; the final breath we are gone;
Slipped into another dimension where we now belong.
The final breath has extinguished, the body grows cold;
Life’s candle snuffed out, the soul is no longer old.
It rises upward and upward still on uplifted hands;
Light as a feather, the weight of the world disbands.
No one dies alone; death only an invitation brings;
Hand-delivered by an angel with extended wings.