Elegy for my Father

NOTE: My father died from emphysema the winter after I graduated college. He had been a smoker since he was a teenager. Smokers may think that smoking only affects them, but it also affects your family. As emphysema progresses, physical activity decreases to the point of immobilization. As you can imagine, my father missed out on some things.

For over ten years
you were slowly dying.
Another day, another pack of cigarettes,
the foul orange butts collected on the ground like tally marks.
Everyday your footsteps were silently stolen
as you cupped the lighter near your face.
Until you could no longer take us on vacation,
leave the house, or get out of bed.
The last months you were in your own morphine world
with brief moments of clarity.
We stayed with you then,
unsure of what would happen next.
The rhythmic sounds of the oxygen machine
filled the room as we waited
until the last struggle for air
brought you to an end.