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Methuselah's request
You were curious
what the last five minutes would be like.
I squirmed and brushed it off
saying that I knew you still had time.
But for God's sake, you were 97
you had the right to read your tumors like a
mystery novel
to wonder with enthusiasm
what the final chapter held.
It was your due
after such devotion to the storyline.
We could have held a book club
and studied all the clues.
We could have held our breath,
closed our eyes,
and tried to be still.
But I was never
quite the avid reader
that you were.
I likened you to Methuselah,
when you were really Socrates
staying calm amid the wailing,
trying to prepare your bed.
Michelle Lerner is a legal aid lawyer and a
first year MFA student at the New School at NYU.
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