We’re Still Something
by Jerry Gentry
A niece sat by her old, dying aunt,
who breathed steadily, eyes closed,
having had no food or water in four days,
resting her final days away.
On the wall, inside an oval frame, was a picture of the young smiling aunt,
standing next to her new, smiling husband.
The picture evoked from the niece stories funny and dear,
told as she touched her aunt’s bony shoulder.
On the small TV, Judge Joe Brown told a man how foolish he had been.
“It only gets that one channel,” the niece said.
“So I’ve seen a lot of judges and Jerry Springer.
It’s not very good, but it’s something.”
We don’t have to be good to sit with the dying.
We just need to sit, and feel some love,
perhaps some gratitude, a bit of warming nostalgia.
Even if we’re not all good, we’re still something.
We’re Still Something
Jerry Gentry 