The Bigger Picture

This beckoning death taunts.
It is a wicked encroachment. Medical
authorities flitter indefinitely
between legal boundaries and
insurers’ definitions
of a balanced budget
versus quality of life
and the differences in value
between hospice and respite
care of a man better
than all before him
in the eyes of a woman
who taught me
how, not who, to be.

And she calls me crying after
being strong for everyone else,
I stifle my resentment
of her nightly wine-slurred words.
Some things are more important
than teaching lessons,
and there are some exhaustions
no substance can begin to touch
for either of us.