Breath of Death | Teen Ink

Breath of Death MAG

By Anonymous

      Four in the morning was never welcome,

but the door was left ajar.

Off to the medics, off to the beds,

to bones of frailty, and zombies for heads.

My father just lay there, with an oxygen face,

skin soon to be blue, body covered with dew.

Left from lung’s life.

Groans and

pants and

mental lapses.

A device distinguishable as death.

More of cancer than more of human.

The Reaper’s tumor lodged in the nodes.

Five o’clock, then Five-o-Five.

Youthful son, then head of the house.

Modest funeral, modest sympathy.

Years from now the memory’s gone.

Those who recall the death of one,

but who can say who sleeps?



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This article has 9 comments.


i love this so much!

on Aug. 12 2016 at 11:14 am
pineappler03 SILVER, Waterford, Connecticut
6 articles 1 photo 61 comments
This is so sad. I'm sorry if this is a real memory. Great job pulling out those emotions.

on Feb. 23 2013 at 12:52 am
rustyemotions BRONZE, Queens, New York
4 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
Write hard and clear about what hurts.
-Ernest Hemmingway

I especially like the cadence in your words. This is great work. Keep writing! 

neshi-baby said...
on Sep. 7 2011 at 10:21 am
what if your best friend dies??? cry then too?? because that tends to happen alot to me

kimmi-bear said...
on Sep. 7 2011 at 10:13 am
this is amazing! you did a really good job but i think you should have added more to it!

on Oct. 11 2009 at 9:39 pm
nevercliche159 BRONZE, Clark, New Jersey
3 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A man who has nothing to die for, is not fit to live."
--- Martin Luther King Jr.

They say wiritng from experience is the best way to write. I know a lot of people who have died from cancer, and the poem really almost forced me to experience it again. It had a lot of meaning.

mana15 GOLD said...
on Sep. 13 2009 at 12:52 pm
mana15 GOLD, Newark, New York
17 articles 0 photos 28 comments
Your work is awesom, you know people are usually not the way you discribed in your poetry, it's beautiful and divine. Your poetry shows your colors and I would like to see more.

ninja alice said...
on Feb. 21 2009 at 1:40 am
my grandma died from cancer i felt the same way u do

Behindtheice said...
on Nov. 22 2008 at 11:38 pm
Thats really beautiful.