i WONDER what she PrayEd

As you sat helpless in the chair
     Your eyes greeting everyone who walked into the room
      Ears straining to identify all who came to the door
           An active mind, trapped in an uncooperative
fading body marked by the rough passage of time

I saw you

I saw you and thought
       while your daughter made soap and jam
       canned jars of jelly
       trooping through the countryside to create the farm
                     gather the chickens
                     growing the memories of who you once were
to show you her overwhelming love

I saw you and thought
         as I listened to the stories
         of road trips from New York City
         two little girls who kept you chasing them
                      down the dirt lanes in countryside North Carolina
and the grown-up grief stinking of broken relationships
       bitter berries of an unforgotten youth

of the empty places around your bed just before the sunset

I saw you on that day and listened
          to tales told of long ago
              lives you lived
                  hearts you touched
 and tears needing to be caught as they all came just in time to catch
        a glimpse of the gathering twilight

and I wondered what you prayed as you were a silent witness to the your life
   slipping away

because they all heard it