While she lay
Suspended tenuously between life and death
We chased a marching band down the street
We giggled with Glee, stopped traffic
And then we prayed
All of us together
Our heads bowed in silence, respect, an uneasy anticipation
We prayed
We laughed
She made us laugh one last time
And between the kitchen and her room
To and fro
So many people
A few hundred cups of tea
We prayed together
Family and friends, family and well-wishers, family and strangers
We sat together around her bed
Listening to the whirr of the oxygen machine
Passing around strips of Sour Punk
Stifling giggles at our own impertinence
And then we went back to praying
Together.
For her.
With her.
“Don’t forget me,” she said.