I want the phone call
annunciation of death   an end
to suffering   I want the call
so we can have him
as he lives in our memories
before illness

I want my father’s death
completed   I mean it has been
coming at us with its claws out
and I want this death
done   over and done with us
so we can be rid of it

I want the bell to release us
to complete us with its toll
with the totality of its end

I want the phone
to ring out his death
to free us from being
inside the dying with him

I want time to work
in reverse and for the sick man
to disappear   I want death

I want death to be done