Last Words of the Dying

The last words of the dying have taught me about life.

Artem Maltev at Unsplash

Trying not to weep, I held the hand of an older friend as he lay on his hospice bed in the living room of his small home. He had end stage cancer, and was in his late eighties.

We were alone when he quietly told me, “I still miss him.” He wanted me to find an old picture so we could look at it, but it had to be our secret. I found the black…