Now I am the Matriarch

Now I am the Matriarch

A few days past my Mother had a choice

jump or burn

Always an optimist she chose not to slowly roast

tubes here and there making

their own weeping mouths in her tiny fragile body

They would not have stopped

a horrible death with pain and sickness

lingering between morphined sleep

They could not have sung it away

She chose the surgery her frail heart would not survive

Because there was a twinkle of hope

that life might continue

They kept her alive so we could see her

and her death was without pain or any more fear

And we spoke to her in case she could hear

I now have the funeral to plan

and her things to sort

and family to push towards choosing some keepsakes

But now I am the matriarch

I inherit the gallantry and courage

intellect and wit

unquenchable spirit

It is my job now to call family together

and tell them the family tales