If You Want To - A Poem by Neal Klein

If you want to talk

            About life and/or death

            About something or about nothing

            About nothingness

If you want to walk

            Out amongst the trees, birds, clouds, sky,

            Sun, stars, or moon

            Or within the fertile landscape

            That is your imagination

If you want to cry and hold a hand

            Or be hugged

            Or be given space

If you want to laugh

            At nothing at all

            At what is absurd, at what isn???t

            At the moment, at eternity

If you want to share silence

            Empty or full

If you want to tickle your auditory nerves

            With poetry, with song, with music to

            Vibrate your soul

If you want to be distracted from your discomforts

If you want to meditate

If you want to explore your nightmares, visions, or terrors

            Or the imagery of your illness

If you just want to be,

            Wherever you are

            However you are

            And need a companion

            To be with you

Or near you

In body

Or spirit

Know

If you want to

You can call on my name

Neal Klein’s wife, Emilee, died in 2017 utilizing Regional Hospice and Palliative Care’s services. Neal wrote this poem as a way to process his grief.