I wake up early each morning 

And lie in bed listening to the birds chirp 

Until their notes give way to the sounds of traffic 

I make my way down the wooden stairs 

Girding myself for the coming day 

Stepping over the cat curled at the bottom 

The porch swing creaks under my weight 

I sit, inhaling the steam from my tea 

Breathing in the scent of the living 

I recall the day unfailingly 

Vines grew up around me then 

Binding my limbs and choking me 

I had known the the end was near 

I could see it in your pallid expression 

The slow decline of your vitality 

In that moment I sat on this very porch 

Wishing for a quiet end to this misery 

Bleary eyed and ragged from waiting 

The most petrifying part of all 

Ever since the earth reclaimed you 

The chains lighten with the dawn of each morning 

I listen to the waking world, terrified of losing you twice