Prayers For Kay Poem by David McLansky

'I don't want to die, ' she sighed,
An old woman with a look of fear,
Making friends at 84,
Afraid she'd disappear;

We were neighbors on th hillside road
She resided at the top;
Last year her husband had died in bed;
She explained, 'His heart just stopped.'

We climbed the road many a time
In that chilly, breezy Spring;
She met us at her outer door,
Motioning, 'Please come in.'

She was glad to have the company,
She offered cake and beer,
'Take what you want, I don't care, '
With an effort of good cheer.

We met her son, the youngest one,
She had babied through the years,
He was glad to have the company,
He was said to live quite near.

He was angry at his dear old Mom,
He needed thousands for a car,
He yelled at her as if she was dumb;
She sighed, too old to spar.

She hobbled as she rose to walk
An unsteady, shufling gate.
He grew impatient with her talk,
'You always make me wait.'

We took her to the pharmacy,
When her son refused,
She queried us about our car,
Could she buy one used?

We saw the fly car go up the hill,
The ambulance followed soon,
We feared she had an accident,
The bright day turned to gloom.

The mailman found her on the road
She had fallen, hit her head,
Her hands were covered dark with blood,
Her forehead gashed, she bled.

They took her to the hospital,
She had bleeding in the brain;
She knew the year, but not her age,
Alone too long she'd lain.

She was taken into surgery,
To mend her bleeding brain
'84 is still too young to die, '
Was her last refrain;

God take this woman in your care
And ease her fear and pain,
And may she be too young to die
And may her son buy her a cane.