Dani Oliver
for Brendan McShane
And how strange it felt to champion you
towards death
the way we do a birth,
knowing destination
is sharpness softened.
Both a split :
soul from a body, soul from a body.
How can I utter what filled me?
It should feel improper to lobby the dying,
but there is no grief in encouraging
the marathoner, no fault
in the cheering mother
who knows each toddle leads the baby
further away.
You were doing everything right
and inside me was a home flooding over,
beautiful and buoyant.
I was so proud of you.
Of your going.