i wouldn’t live to see the day
words uttered in trembling lips
in shivering and cold hands
teardrops flow from his eyes

happy anniversary, he whispered
wanting to embed a smile in his face
but pain within wouldn’t let him
i kissed him wiped his tears away

it was the day before his death
and two days before our anniversary
he knows then he will not be there
a dying man’s heart with dying words

i lay my head on his chest,
listen to the weakening heartbeats
i wrapped him in my arms embrace
i know and feel the truth in his words

he said sorry for the things he had done
the thorns that were buried deep in me
he said sorry for the things he could have
the best as a father, a husband, and a son

i held his face straight up to look at me
bear the look of his deepening faint eyes
“you are the best in your own ways”
i touch his lips with a kiss of forever..

IN COFFEE PAINTING BY SUZETTE PORTES SAN JOSE