We had sat at your bedside,
Fed you ice-cream and grapes,
Your tongue searching out the moisture.
Cooled your forehead with damp cloth,
Stroked your hair,
Kissed your cheek,
Told you we loved you –
That we were here.
You lay under a white sheet,
Propped on pillows,
A drip of liquid in each arm
Bringing, we hoped, relief.
Later, unable to visit,
We went to the beach,
Ate pasties and remembered:
You, carrying your children high on your shoulders
You, reading bed time stories
You, building a dolls’ house late in the night
You, hooking a worm for your son
You, lighting the barbecue in the garden
You, saying sorry that last time...
The met office warning was for extreme heat:
Red warning. Danger to life.
It was as if the earth, in sympathy,
Raged with the heat of infection in your lungs
Raged against the dying of the light
As you, slipped gently into that good-night.
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