Poem To A Dying Man Poem by Shalom Freedman

I see you in the synagogue almost each night now-
I have seen so many in the condition you are in now-
The frailty, the thinness, the cough,
The intense concentration required to do the smallest thing,
The great difficulty in small motion-

Like most of them you are a good man
Worked hard all your life
Raised a family
Knew dislocation and suffering
Struggled for survival
Made a new life after the old world collapsed-
A good man-

I see you now
My heart goes out to you-

It’s the human condition after all
Living and dying-
And who am I to do anything about it?

I exchange a few words with you
To not leave you alone with the night
We go our separate ways -

My heart goes out to you
But what am I to do?

This is the human condition
And will happen in one way or other
To all of us-

I hate it-
I hate to see your suffering
But this is what we are
And I can do nothing about it.

A few words in the night
And then gone.