Dying Man

I see a dying man,
He lies on his hospital bed,
Unable to move,
Unable to speak,
Only his eyes show signs of life,
Yet they also show how much he longs for death…

He is so thin now,
He looks like a skeleton in a blue gown,
His hair is thinning, verging on vanishing,
It's as white as the whitest snow,
His head looks like a skull,
The darkness around his eyes, its sockets…

His breathing is shallow and weak,
The rise and fall of his chest
Slows and takes longer to occur with each intake,
His teeth have all fallen out,
Underneath his gown, his rib cage rests
With hardly any meat to cover its bones…

I can’t believe such a man still lives,
I feel nothing but sympathy for him,
I wish for someone to take mercy on him
And for a peaceful death to take him away from his agony,
Away from his current life
Of silently enduring all this emotional and physical pain…

I wave to the man, and he waves back...
In perfect harmony with my movement...
It is only now I notice the mirror...