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　　I am delivered, having lain down in death

　　When she leaves the body, her spirit

　　flickers, mingling with the room, the lights,

　　the hearts of the surgeons and nurses.

　　When he drifts from the room, hovering somewhere

　　above loss and the journey, the senses slow and stutter, Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

　　causing his spouse, child, friend—to pause.

　　The doctor fingers the scalpel and her consciousness,

　　questioning the light, too bright to be a halo,

　　bursting from the patient`s body in one fatal shot.

　　The nurse scrubs the blood, grit, life from his

　　hands, blinking as the watch, the hands, the spindles

　　and gears and electronic whisps are put on temporary hold.

　　When the body dies, the room stands at attention,

　　cosmic fireworks billowing from the mundane—

　　eighty-seven cent light bulbs, a subtle shift of light,

　　and the sterile face of time.