I Always Knew You'D Make Me Watch You Die Poem by Patti Masterman

I always knew you'd make me watch you die
Even as a child it seemed unfair
To have to watch one's father or mother
Suffer even unto that final stare.

I often imagined you wearing a death mask,
It must have been the most frightening thing
Of all the childrens imaginary games
And I played it sadly with a crimson shame.

For I didn't want to have to face it some day
Without any warning of what to expect
And true enough, as I waited that week
I had a lot of time on which to reflect

That I really needed to be there for you;
Of all my relations, I knew beyond doubt
You were the one most terrified
Of hospitals, dying and the final route.

At last it happened; and my watch ended:
I'd seen you through as you crossed that rift
The one that divides the dead from the living
So I think of it now as my final gift.