The phone rings to an empty house
a beep, a silence, and then
from a hospital in North Carolina
six cold words: come as quick as you can

Mechanical apologies issue forth
spoken a thousand times before
those same words hold no worth
because you didn't know her

In just seconds things have gone
from bad to worse
time should stand still
But we're stuck in this curse

The moments are frozen
but this message missed the clock
no matter what I feel
relentless seconds tick tock

False comforts and numb sympathies
She's gone, but don't say
you're sorry
Because you didn't know her

I think I blame myself
for the way I barely tolerated her
but at least I really loved her

And you? Cold soldier in a lab coat
You only knew her from your clipboard
But she was so much more than a black and white note
She was my grandmother

I knew her laugh
Her annoying tendencies
to tell me I shouldn't play with cars
But she'd wake me in the middle of the night to watch the shooting stars

I didn't hug her and wonder
If the next time I saw her
she'd remember
I didn't say that I would see her
in October
I didn't say that I loved her

And two days later
I was seconds late
She was boarding an airplane
Just passing through the gate
Looking at her watch
And then she was gone
leaving me behind
that cold tick tock
one second at a time