That Last Time Poem by Terry Collett

That was the last time
you saw her alive

going into a store
with some guy

you assumed
was her husband

and she looked over at you
as you sat opposite the store

and smiled her smile
like she used to

way back in 62
when it was just

she and you
sitting by the pond

or walking through
the small wood

talking as you used to
with youth on your side

and love hanging on
a chain about your neck

and that was back then
that day you were just

an observer outside
a store watching her

walk by with some other
not knowing Mr Death

was trailing her
even then

that cancer
maybe even as she walked

touching her
with its oily finger

oh how men love and lose
but the great memory

of her will hold
and ever linger.