Life is like an ocean voyage
upon a luxurious ocean liner
skimming across wavy lines
of ocean billows and sea froth.
It is adventure and intrigue,
mystery and fortitude.
Sometimes it is pain peppered
by moments of lightness and humor.
But it is that one memory
that made me smile the most
and made the losses to come
much more bearable.
The nurse at the door coming
to give my stepfather a shower,
the sly smile on his face as he asked
"Do you know what she is going to do?"
I nodded my head and said I did know.
He asked that same question again;
then he smiled and said,
"I kind of like it."
His body was breaking down
and his spirit was pulling away;
yet one moment of humor and laughter
reminded me of the person he really was.
His voyage, my brother's voyage
a few months later, reminding me
that every voyage has an end:
and then we go to a new destination.
Humor and compassion add texture;
and bright moments of happy times
make it worth sharing in the whole journey
or in the last moments when a life departs.