This is for my grandmother, Carolyn Colby.

“Terminal cancer,” the doctor said.

His eyes filled with tears.

“I’ll get you the best hospice care in Boston.”

He put his arm around her.

My grandmother’s eyes were cloudy but dry.

She said, “I’m 84, I’ve had a good life, so I don’t want to die.

I want experimental treatment.”

“That would ruin the months you’ve got left,” the doctor said.

My grandmother said, “I’ll risk it,” and she did,

And had a fatal stroke

On her 93rd birthday.

— Felicia Nimue Ackerman

(First ran in Ragged Edge Online)