On the winter holiday
I flew many hours on the plane
to visit my grandpa.

The stay was fun except this day,
he was coughing and spluttering.
One evening
he was wheezing loudly
for every gasp of air.
He couldn’t sit up,
his eyes folded up
and his mouth opened
and he spoke gently, ‘I love you’
and his hands dropped to the floor.

My dad shedded tears
my mother tried to catch his soul
and I said in return
“Another 50 years and you’ll see him in Heaven.”