I hadn’t known him long at all
But he always had a friendly face
I started seeing him less frequently
When the cancer started manifesting
Throughout his body
Invisible
Except for the painful expression
Plastered on his powder face
Aging day, by day

He was unable to speak
His tongue, limp
“He wanted to die” she had told me
After that dreary November day
When I walked up to his embalmed corpse
He looked so at peace
As if he were slumbering
I could almost visualized his cold chest
Rising, and falling
He wanted to die.
I was almost happy for him
Death had swept him away
And relinquished him
From the misery that had kept him here
In this world that could do no more for him