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Before You Leave

  • Joanne Benedetto
  • Dec 24, 2025
  • 1 min read

Kneeling there as tears fall across her cheek

Knowing this is different from hide and seek

When who she sees is familiar yet strange

And that for now on everything will change

Wanting her Nana to open her eyes

Instead remembering everyone dies

But nothing can repair her broken heart.

She wants to say something afraid to start

Whispering with her eyes closed, “I need you”

Before her mother walked her to the pew

Having seen the cross Nana never wore

Imagining her walking through the door

Promising that she will not leave today

That death is a lie, a game grownups play

And begs as she is tugging at her sleeve

“Can we have one more day before you leave?”

 
 
 

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