Evelyn Lau is the poet laureate of Vancouver. She has a few poems that deal with end of life issues.
Palliative Care Ward,
Lions’ Gate Hospital
In the end you let go so easily
as if your life were a bit of dander
you shook from your sweater and watched sail
as if your life were a bit of dander
you shook from your sweater and watched sail
into
the breeze. For weeks I sat by your hospital bed,
the ferries outside carrying their cargo of light
across the ink harbor as minute
by minute you sank down
towards your death. Click here to read the full poem.
into your final privacy
on the opposite shore. Here is the hospice,
in New England shades Click here to read the full poem.
His Last Days
You call one Sunday night
to tell me about his last days on earth.
How he made you promise him one more
summer, a garden where the two of you would sit
Over a white tablecloth and a pitcher of cool water. Click here to read the full poem .
the ferries outside carrying their cargo of light
across the ink harbor as minute
by minute you sank down
towards your death. Click here to read the full poem.
HOSPICE
OF THE NORTH SHORE,
DANVERS, MA
Mr. Updike, a long-time resident of Beverly Farm, died of
DANVERS, MA
Mr. Updike, a long-time resident of Beverly Farm, died of
lung cancer at Hospice of
North Shore in Danvers, said his wife, Martha
– The Boston Globe, January 27, 2009
This is the closest I will come
to your last days, peering
like a pervert– The Boston Globe, January 27, 2009
This is the closest I will come
into your final privacy
on the opposite shore. Here is the hospice,
in New England shades Click here to read the full poem.
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| Tree upended - Stganley Park 2006 |
His Last Days
You call one Sunday night
to tell me about his last days on earth.
How he made you promise him one more
summer, a garden where the two of you would sit
Over a white tablecloth and a pitcher of cool water. Click here to read the full poem .
