A January Afternoon With -- George

His body has failed him.
Shut down
around a mind that is still
yearning to express,
to experience –
His body has -- failed
him.
And I stand here
trying to find words to
rattle off about my day
so that I can fill the -- stilted
silence,
while he is trying
struggling
to -- communicate --
through the tangle of failed nerve synapses
or whatever it is
that has -- so cruelly --
imprisoned him –
He is trying to speak to me
and I know the words he is trying to speak
are words
of interest, words of
love --
and I cannot,
I can not
handle it.
But I cannot
not handle
it -
so I stay awhile
wanting to
but -- unable
to cry.