Hospice – a poem by Sharon V. Brown

Hospice

I am eating an orange 
when the text comes in,
Please say a prayer,
the angels are near.
Oh, I think, dear Nancy.
I imagine her watching
as angels drift and gather 
above her bed,
bright light pours in
through the open window,
and the hum of the monitor 
becomes a hymn.

I say a prayer
and wait for the call.

The orange is sweet,
weeping sticky juice 
into my palm.

Sharon V. Brown is a retired English professor and poet living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She recently joined the Greenwood Poets Group in Seattle, Washington and has begun honing her craft with the enriched perspective of an older woman. Previous poetry publications include Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place; Lamar University Literary Press, Senior Class: Poems on Aging; Cirque Literary Journal; and Still Points Quarterly.