The ambulance has come but Juliet lies dead,
Her heart, exhausted, stilled, her body’s clock will chime
no more. Four paramedics struggled to reprime 
that broken pump with CPR, but life had fled.

I made a vow of care upon the day we wed,
and sickness did not give me pause a single time.
The song our lives entwined us in became our rhyme.
No matter what I crave, “til death” is ours instead.

I had no right to forty years and four she filled with joy,
that nurturing and nursing her had made our lives full blest
and filled with memories of times her death cannot destroy

but Juliet has died today, there are no prayers to bring her back.
Not even doctors with their skills can help. She lies at rest,
and I am left with broken thoughts that I cannot unpack.
 

                                   11 February 2024