I must be on time for the gig
Which leaves me about an hour
In the palliative care unit
And I took the wrong turn from the subway
Like it wasn’t enough of a tight schedule

This growing haste before I enter the room,
It’s a bit of apprehension, and a bit of missing you
You’ve got me pretty addicted, you charming cancer-boy

We’ve had quite a long and heroic trip together, haven’t we ?
Transferring you from this bunker of yours
Way up to the fifth floor of medic town
In one of the best service you could ever ask for…
Hey, that was neither anticipated, nor even planned for yesterday.
You just decided you had enough,
And told the nurse who was visiting you.
But she could not wait for the ambulancy
And when I called, you didn’t want me around, remember ?
I found you completely dazed on your bed, almost naked,
Talking to yourself
I just wonder how you were gonna let the paramedics in,
By telepathy maybe ?

But don’t worry about this,
We made a pretty great duet together
For the rest of your emergency tour
I saw you restore every color of your being
For just a few hours, that was fantastic
The humour, the comraderie, the style,
As the friendship
And this droning memento mori above our heads
Above yours indeed.
We both understood it was the last step
And what a true relief that I could help.

So now you’re just sleeping ?
I knew you probably would.
That’s fine,
The families’ space nearby
Is such a haven to me,
So quiet, appeasing
No one around, mostly.

And it has a free coffee machine
With a few little cakes available.
I must confess I’ve had probably half of them
With two or three black coffees
Just pouring another hot one over the previous getting tepid
I knew I wouldn’t have time to eat,
So it did for a lunch
Then I sat there, networking for a while,
Dealing with a few urgent points about the gig.

Finally a nurse told me a word about your condition today
And your sleeping,
Which is not really « sleeping ».
« You hear his breath ? It’s typical of a dying person,
It won’t last very long »

So you’re not waking up anymore ?
Not even goodbye,
Not even a half-conscious smile ?

You gave it all yesterday, I guess.
But man, I took a serious blow
Right when I thought I could easily spend a few visits more
And grab coffees and peacefulness on the house

I had just left a funny note on your bedside table
That you’ll never read
Could not assume it would go that fast.

And fast should I go myself.

I have to work, sleeping beauty
So don’t die tonight, please
See you very soon