At the moment of her death
        she saw the curtain fidget
                around a hint of starlight.

At the moment of his death
        he heard his mother’s voice from another room
                neither scolding nor cajoling.

At the moment of her death she thought she saw herself
       in a fleeting doorway, as if from a passing train.

At the moment of his death
        he heard the wind scouring the sand
            across a vast beach out of childhood dreaming.

At the moment of her death
        she saw two black hares boxing on a heath covered with clover.

At the moment of his death
        he heard the taller doctor say as if deep into his ear,
                “Remind me of this”.

At the moment of her death
        she saw 10,000 children
                their white scarves streaming.

At the moment of his death
        he heard the pages of his open book
               riffling in a stiff breeze.

At the moment of her death
        she saw the Holy Vision in a panelled corridor.
                They passed without a word exchanged.

At the moment of his death
        he heard his name chanted in polyphony
                above the beating of deep engines.

At the moment of her death
        she saw the moon as a hole in the night sky,
                its light from all the light that there is beyond.

At the moment of his death
            he heard the sun ping like a blown filament
                    and then the dark was all there was beyond.

 ::o0o::