Dignity

I smooth my sheets
plump the pillows
spread a patchwork quilt
and hide my nightgown
in the closet

God grant one favor:
that no paramedic
will ever find me in it
dead
and gone where I am going

May the gown hang in dignity
unseen
May I depart in sweats
and heavy shoes
Selected Poems of Thomas McGrath
under my left arm a magnifying glass in my purse

Notes

McDaniel, Wilma. (2001) Borrowed Coats. Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York.
Courtesy University of California, Merced Library. Copyright owned by the Regents of the University of California.