Last Shadow

Who will be the last shape I see

as my vision of this world dims?

Will it be a familiar and much loved partner?

A stranger with the comfort of a needle?

Or perhaps a dark ghost from the past

finally come to bring me home?

There is no way for me to choose.

This shadow will come, want it or no.

But I am curious – will I feel surprised?

Terrified? Or lean into the shadow

with a longing I did not know existed.

I can only hope that, like

the shadow of a bird flying

across the face of a distant sun,

the darkness is fleeting.