Final Gift - A Poem – The Creative Mental Health Charity PoetsIN™

Final Gift – A Poem by Author, Mark Olmsted

We have a very special blog piece for you today, a poem, written by Mark Olmsted, author of Ink from the Pen: A Prison Memoir. His book is an honest – and surprisingly humorous – account of his time in prison and his journey to rehabilitation through words. Something we are very passionate about.

Mark’s poem is a demonstration of his skills to stir feelings inside a reader, and his poem, Final Gift, does exactly the same. So, grab his book, and in the meantime, read this beautiful poem.

I’ve earned
the right
to isolate,
to gravitate
towards solitude,
to keep my circle
tight and glued.
The social country
of my youth
is now an island built for two.

I cannot help
but see the day,
when “we”
are just “you” and “me” again,
one of us, finally, “late.”
What a lovely way
to misstate death,
as if at any moment
the dear departed
will show,
slightly out of breath,
apologetic.
“Sorry … traffic.”

I hope you go first,
to be honest.
(Not that I hope it happens soon –
I dread it, actually.)
It’s just that I will make
the better widower.
I will grieve you sharply,
but this I already know,
the longing I feel
after you are gone
will not surprise me.
But if I am first to go,
you have no idea
how much you will be
at sea,
because you don’t realize
now
how much you love me.