I'm Light By Nature

But guess
what
5 months
of watching my mother
get sicker and sicker
is taking
it's toll

Wiping up gobs
of puke
off my
mother's
chin every
morning

Gobs
with bloodclots
bigger than quarters

Trying to
physically
lift
her
out
of
bed
to
put her on
a commode

Sleeping
with half an ear open
every night so I
can hear her
if she needs me

Listening to her whisper
ow,ow,ow
in her sleep
all night long.

No help
no help
from three other brothers
no offer to
take her in when she got sick

No
offer of a break
all
summer long while they all
took two and three vacations
with their families

While my two daughters
and I struggled along
all
summer
watching the lady
we love
die in our house

Meanwhile summer's over
and my brothers are back
because death
is drawing ever near
and they
want
to know
what their piece
of the pie is

I'll lighten up
after my
mom
dies and
I have my life back
a life that
no longer
has any need
to include
these other people

my
so called
relatives
in it