© 2010 Kevin Gillam

in the end

in the end when he went it was
so quick. in the end he was seated
in kitchen chair, as if

writing a letter, as if listening
to the wireless, as if thinking.
in the end he was in

sandals and white singlet with
slicked back white hair, mouth slightly

ajar as if beginning to speak.
in the end it was the shell
of him, the carapace,

the very empty box of him.
in the end he wasn't there,
me ready to tell him I was