Why Did You Leave Me? Poem by Robin Bennett

Mom why did you run from me,
Escaping to Heaven,
no less; I found you cold,
frozen, and so very dead.
Screaming alone to
my now terminally ill
mind.

Seventy two years and fifteen days-
since your birth, you had enough
of this world. You perished all alone.
I called you that Monday,
knee deep in problems
as usual. No answer.

I packed my burdens,
and came to you
to wash them
away. Instead, I found
the light had faded
away.

I was dead now, too.
You perished in
your bed. I prayed
you were dreaming,
but I was living
a nightmare.

My empty shell, climbed into
bed with you and cried. Before
help came, I was left to pry
your rings from your blue
dead fingers.