Mom's Last Day

The day
was Cinco De Mayo
and Buddha's official birthday
and I was giving
my sleeping mother
doses of strong painkillers
around the clock
every four hours,
so I took a nap, finally,
and when I went upstairs
for another medicine injection
into her mouth,
I noticed
that her chest
was not moving
up and down
like it had been,
so I took off
the oxygen
from her nose
and felt if there
was any breath,
and there wasn't
so that was it,
and I sat
in meditation
next to her
for awhile
and then called

my sister.