Nanna’s Wishes

As soon as I saw her, I knew she would die,
The sight of her old withered limbs made me cry,
She beckoned me over, put on a brave face,
She said she was ready, I thought it a lie.

Please do me a favour, get out of this place,
She said with the palm of her hand on my face,
It’ll do you no good, it’ll suck out your soul,
So walk out of here now, disappear without trace.

I heard what she said, though it sounded quite droll,
This place was a hungry and giant black hole,
The happiness went out of everyone there,
All of our life and our love this place stole.

I fed her some tea and I brushed her white hair,
And I checked she had toothpaste and clean underwear,
Then I gave her a kiss and with one knowing look,
I left her behind, and a part of me there.

I walked out forever, the courage it took,
To obey her strange wishes should not be mistook
For someone uncaring who just stayed away
So as she withered they’d not have to look.

I wanted to visit my Nanna each day,
My heart said: Oh Nanna don’t send me away,
But she wanted me gone and she wanted me strong,
Because she knew soon that there would come a day

When the grief of her passing would be our new song,
And she knew that it needed somebody quite strong,
To help all the others to handle their grief,
The day after I left, Nanna sang her last song.

[Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to write a rubaiyat – this is formed of stanzas with the rhyming structure AABA. I took it a step further and used AABA BBCB CCDC etc like Robert Frost’s famous poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening ]