(a repost)

Breasts that once were suckled
are now just flabs of useless fat
laying on grandma's chest.
Her black hair
peppered with gray
lay flat and lifeless on her back
robbed of vitamins
from years of malnourishment.

I look at grandma's hands
hands that caught fish
hands that held me
brown hands with leathery skin
smooth and lightly wrinkled
hands that were once
covered in silver and turquoise
hands that held my hands
hands that took life
as surely as they gave it
hands that fought and bled.

I watch grandma's hands
grabbing for something that
would return her to the spirit world
a world she has never known
her hands that were given
to my mother
and then to me
are now swollen
and pulling at her lifeline.

Her mouth became a gaping hole
that sucks in breath
and jabbers in an unknown tongue
a mouth that cried out
for death.
Her mouth -
fevered and blistered
her upper lip sucked in
and blown out with each breath.

I touched her face
looking into her one eye
searching her face
searching but never finding
the life that once burned
inside her
and finally seeing it
expelled in her final breath.