Death calls

Phone rings,
sister cries.
Blunt force trauma to the heart.

Pride goeth before the fall,
spiraling out of control.
Harsh reality no comfort at all.

I dial.
The inflicted becomes the inflicter.
Breaking hearts across the wires.

Summoned we drive.
So near seems so far.
The world is blurred.

Arrival brings no relief.
Uniformed strangers don't share our grief.
Death has come in the night like a thief,
yet, it is the dead who are judged.

Still more calls to make.
Still more hearts to break.
I see no gentler way.
"He's dead" is all I say.

Sitting in silence.
Standing in emptiness.
Waiting in time stood still.

One by one the broken hearts arrive.
There is no comfort in our bond of grief.
so we....
Sit in the silence,
stand in the emptiness,
wait in the time stood still.

The ringing phone offers a moment of distraction.
None answer.
Then his recorded voice echos through the house and our hearts for the last time.
"Hi, you've reached 281-1089. Im not home now so leave a message after the tone. Adios"