Fate Of My Father Poem by Frank Adie

You were the youngest among five male children
You turned out to be the first to die
I watched you bubble with life as I grew up
Until the malady called diabetes struck.

For thirteen years, you fought the demon
In and out of several hospitals
But on that fateful day in March 1997
Victory hid her face from you.

The news of your demise broke my heart
But I took consolation in one single thought:
The battle of life was over
In death, you can now rest.

You had expended all you had
In bid to restore you health
Thus, on death's day, you had absolutely nothing left
Not even a dime

You were packaged for burial the next day
A paupers burial so to say
Yours was a very piteous fate
Garlanded on you by the callous hands of poverty

In death, you became the man I used to know
For your once swollen face and legs
Had found their way to normalcy
And that moan of misery had vanished forever.