Dear friends,
My husband Fred passed away yesterday after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease. I have been competing in the Poem a Day challenge at Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides blog. Today’s prompt was to write a prayer poem. This is what I wrote. Fred is still my muse.
Prayer
Today I am a widow,
my husband gone from his body,
the hands that caressed me stilled,
the lips that kissed with such
tender strength left open
to let his soul escape.
Lord, as I kiss his sunken cheek
and embrace him through the sheet,
sprinkling tears across his neck,
help me to remember that this
was just a shell, and now,
like you, he is everywhere around me.
Author: Sue Fagalde Lick
writer/musician
California native, Oregon resident
Author of Freelancing for Newspapers, Shoes Full of Sand, Azorean Dreams, Stories Grandma Never Told, Childless by Marriage, Now Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer's, and the Up Beaver Creek novel series. Most recently, I have published three poetry chapbooks, Gravel Road Ahead, The Widow at the Piano: Confessions of a Distracted Catholic, and Blue Chip Stamp Guitar, plus a full-length collection Dining Al Fresco with My Dog. I have published hundreds of articles, plus essays, fiction and poetry. I'm also pretty good at singing and playing guitar and piano.
View all posts by Sue Fagalde Lick
Beautiful. Quieting. Reassuring. Encouraging. Sad.
LikeLike