Too Little Too Late Poem by Diana van den Berg

“There is nothing more we can do” we thought,
but the truth is
that we didn’t care enough
to take the time
to know that wasn’t true
and to fathom out a way
and now you are dead
and now there
really is
nothing we can do
to bring you back.

So, my good friend,
in essence,
I killed you -
along with others, yes –
but they are not my concern.
I could have prevented your death,
or at least postponed it
and enhanced your quality of life,
but I didn’t see it soon enough
and so you are dead,

but, it’s not so much the guilt
that strangles my breath.
It’s knowing that
you have lost
your life
and we have lost
you.

(1 January 2006)