MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentor Commentary:
Jeanette Beebe

Recipient Reflection: Dreama J. Mason

A Good Death

Poetry by ​Dreama J. Mason

Northeast Ohio Writer

What is a good death? 

I mean, I don’t know. 
No one knows except those who have been there. 
They aren’t telling. 

Not the man who refused to take off his glasses, 
who sat upright, clutching the bedrails.
He gulped air into his chest, 
refusing to let go 
until he was just too weak to hold onto anything 
except the terror in his eyes. 

Nor the man who traveled passively
once he knew that the people in the corner of his room 
were there to guide him. 

Not even the man who used his last words to ask to go outside. 
“He’s too sick,” the nurses said. “It’s too chilly.”
He passed away, neck craned towards the window 
that had been opened
just a crack. 

Of course, passing is not always a process.
It’s too often a violent surprise. 

But, if requests could be made, 
I would ask this: 
while I'm still capable of recognizing things, 
take me outside to the sunshine. 
Let me sit under a tree 
or lay my body on the ground. 

Let me be still. 
Don't talk. 

Allow me to experience the heavy tenderness of the earth,  
the light promises of the sky. 

Warm breezes will brush against my skin. 
Crickets will rub their legs together in harmony. 

And let there be a dog.
Or two. Or three.
If they choose to stay by my side, 
that would be good. 
If they choose to snuffle through the grass and around the trees, 
that's fine too. 

Just let me be there. 

Let me be
until the sun hangs low in the sky 
and I can listen to the birds bid farewell to the day. 

Then, I will go back to my concrete home 
lit by cold, fluorescent lights. 

I will finish my journey
from a rented bed in a beige room. 

But please, 
place my head towards the window.

Open the window
so the sun may offer his warmth 
and the moon her reassurance, 

so that my spirit can ride the breeze 
to the tops of the trees and beyond. 

I guess this would be 
a good death. 

Dreama J. Mason

Dreama J. Mason is a longtime resident of Northeast Ohio. She has worked in skilled nursing facilities offering creativity and motivation to senior citizens for most of her adult life. Writing has always been a cathartic and necessary outlet for her. “A Good Death” is her first published work.