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19 minutes and 20 Seconds

To my sister Anne who died with such dignity when life became unbearable

We lit a candle every night for the last ten days.

A least we meant to. Sometimes life got in the way,

Or we left it to someone else as happens quite lot.

She wouldn’t have minded had she known.

But mostly we lit a candle to burn quietly in the mirror

As we counted down the days till my sister died

At the time she had chosen -

And tried to live our lives.

She’s gone now, a month or more. The doctors

Injected her with ten different chemicals 

And off she went, joking and consoling in equal measure.

We don’t light the candle anymore, yet there she is.

Her photo on our mantlepiece.

Skype records our last call to say goodbye: 

19 minutes and 20 seconds

Such a precise record of something beyond measure;

And gmail suggests I should add her to family letters.

I wonder when that stops?

We work, and travel and meet with friends, 

Read new books. The world turns.

And still, somewhere a candle burns…