**Twenty years ago today my husband, Gordon, slipped deeper into a coma. He died at dawn on July 5, 2003.**

The poetry prompt births an ear worm
“These are a few of my favorite things”

And with that worm 
My mind burrows deep 
Into the rich darkness
of the song that Rodgers wrote
For the film version
After Hammerstein was dead

Often gloomy, depressive
But so incredibly talented
He wrote music and lyrics 
Of the gazebo song
“Something Good”

That was the song I sang to Gordon
As we drove to the beach
For the last time
Just a month before he died

Arwen
Who hadn’t yet decided
Her life was better without me in it
Was in the back seat

We shed no tears as I sang
But we all knew we were each crying
Into the silence after I softly sang the last lines
Out of tune, and with wandering notes, no doubt
As I am no singer

Into that forever beyond now silence
Arwen said, “Oh mom”
Gordon squeezed my hand
I leaned my head against the window
And kept my eyes on the road ahead
To the beach and beyond