Just got back from a short and probably last time visit to a very ill person I've known a long time. Cancer, last stages, absolutely terminal, maybe a couple of weeks left, if God is merciful maybe less. The house, although spotless and the gentleman very well cared for, reeked of death. The heat and oppressive smell nearly got to me so I stepped out on the porch to get some fresh air. I didn't see them when I came in, but on a trellise on the front porch were several dozen absolutely beautiful roses. Each was perfect, each glistened with rain drops. The intensity of the deep red framed by the green vines and their light scent, just for a second or two, removed the stench of death so prevalent behind me. I realized that's how life is - death is always nearby but there are always some roses in the rain. And we are always somewhere between the two. So I took a deep breath of the clean fresh air, looked again at the roses, and went back inside for a few more minutes. The smell wasn't so bad this time. And when we left I made sure to thank the roses as I walked by.

that is a fine picture you have written, roadkill. amen ...

I can see it in my mind's eye

Great little read.

God bless you for that. Puts death in a slightly different perspective

Death can sure make the eyes see what we've been missing. Thoughts to your member, family and you. And thanks for sharing.

thank you sir.

X2

Thanks, RK.

Good on you to care RK thanks for sharing.Cancer totally sucks.

Thanks for sharing.

A nice written summation. Volunteered for a hospice program many years ago and cared for many terminally ill patients in their final days of life in their homes. Roses in the rain indeed.

Y'all all welcome - you'd think at my age I would have realized the obvious somewhere over the years. I've seen a lot of death and I've seen a lot of beautiful things too. Raw unadorned death is different from the death you see in hospitals and funeral homes. Its what you see in a combat zone or on the side of the highway. It sounds and smells a whole lot different too. This was the first time I'd stood somehow between beauty and death. Six feet in front of me was a beautiful scented fresh and colorful gift of nature. And six feet behind me was a man, surrounded by all the accessories of death, slowly and painfully gasping for another breath, hoping for life but knowing he would soon die. Anyway, that's enough from me tonight. No more drinking and posting. Never turns out well. Night all.

Well said.