Gracias
By Begonya Plaza-Rosenbluth
April 30, 2026
60 lines.
Holding on with quiet despair,
Knowing any day now my father leaves his body,
Heading another way,
Soul detached, returning to the unknown,
Or to there, where some call home.
Against my will I admit surrender,
In Spanish declare: desprendete padre.
Meaning: let go father.
Hoping to submit, I assert it's okay to join life's mortality,
And yield to the will of nature.
His struggling breath utters: me descuajo.
In translation means I'm breaking apart.
Precisely depicting, death, that verb, descuajar,
Staggers my mind.
His choice of words always to the very end,
So well could define visual illustrations with deeper connotations.
I see a multitude of cells on course to disintegration,
Processing their biological expiration,
Just like wilted autumn leaves outside the hospital's entrance,
Fallen from barren trees once budding and green,
Now onto cold, wet ground,
Visitors overstepping while lingering around,
As they smoke, and grieve.
His unwitting vulnerability graced by unconquerable resilience,
At this memento mori has ego's fury,
Attacking to reclaim empowerment,
And proclaim, que rabia!
Stirred with rage, I recognize and hear:
No longer can I handle my own self, I fear.
His sweet face exposes a raw deep strain of judgment,
Threading murmuring sounds, echoing: gracias, gracias, gracias.
Determinedly unfailing he remains, bearing.
Uncertainties of life's incalculable radius.
Compelled to model by example,
Reaches for the culmination of body, mind, and spirit.
Having covered a long distance run of ninety-five-years,
He's still showing the way, victoriously contending,
Enough. Enough of this illusory suffering,
Enough of the treachery, and majesty.
Carrying on like driven to strive he pledges: espero hacer la vida proxima mejor.
But father, you did awesome in this orbit, believe me.
You weaved your stories from pain through strength to progress, and
Always wearing your heart on your sleeve.
With a vanishing smile he sighs a final: Gracias.
I place my hand on his forehead,
Pressing fingers onto his third eye pulse,
Humbly encouraging his consciousness shift
Toward the light of his own blissful source,
Where eternity awaits his fearlessness.
Embodying rhythmic experiences, crescendos,
To an abrupt release of force that blasts him,
Off to the beyond,
Where the absolute is attained in a love awareness continuum.
Bereft, we're left behind with a treasure trove of memories,
Ghost like remnants of his endurance,
And beneath earth his no longer useful bones will be buried,
For recycling new beginnings of nutrient rich compost.
Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust carrying forever greater significance,
And eliciting a reflective, Gracias.
Meet the Poet
Begonya Plaza-Rosenbluth is a seasoned multi-cultural actress known for her work in film, theatre, and television. She is also a singer, published author, produced playwright, and awarded filmmaker. Her poems are in The Raven's Perch, In Parentheses, The Write Launch, BeBarBar, Beyond Words, filmpoetry.org, anthologies Silver Tongued Devil Anthology, Rogue Scholars Anthology, and Chaos, Crisis, and Conflict. Her work is on youtube/begonyaplaza, vimeo.com/begonyaplaza, and www.begonyaplaza.com