Picture Two

Picture the two
They sit in a bleached park
On a bench beneath
A gnarled tree.

The dry-baked air moves
Around them.

He sits, uncomfortable and caring
His heart is breaking.
She is calm and resigned
The death draped about her,
That gnaws at her being,
Cannot bite the love–
Not yet.

Picture them
They sit in silence.
Knowing this will be the last time
In this life
That she will speak with him
Alone.

It is heart-rending
But nothing rends their hearts.

For this one brief span
They are alone together.
Soon he will leave her forever
Soon she will depart them all, in pain.

But now they sit
In a bleached park
On a bench beneath
A gnarled tree.