I open my eyes
The woman stands
At the foot of my bed
She looks at me
   Unblinking  
     Watching
       Waiting for something

I don't know her
Never seen her before
She's dressed formally
As if for dinner
   Black gown
     Crimson sash
       Long white gloves

How'd you get in here?
I ask
Coughing the words
From my shriveled lungs
   Nothing
     Silence
       She doesn't speak

I question her again
Who are you?
Again, nothing
She just stands there
   A pillar
     A gravestone
       Still as marble

I look up
Up at her face
Her face
Oh God, her face
   Slender
     Pale
       A classical beauty

If I were a younger man
I would say I were in love
But if I were a younger man
I wouldn't be here now.
   Lying
     Helpless
       Choking on nothing

She steps forward
My breath quickens
The monitor in the corner
That eternal noisemaker
   Beeping
     Beeping
       Beeps faster now

She smiles at me
I smile back
Or try to
My face feels stuck
   I struggle
     I strain
       It won't move

I try to say something
The words are slurred
Strange noises come out
She raises a finger to her lips
   Shhh
     Calm
       Everything is alright

The sound of her voice
It's beautiful
It quiets me
It sounds strange, though
   Elegant
     Foreign
       But so cold

Cold?
She steps even closer
Out of the shadow
I see her eyes
   Grey
     Unfeeling
       Pinning me down

I can't move
Can't stop staring at those eyes
The eyes of the dead
They seem to grow
   Larger
     Deeper
       Swallowing me up

Still staring at me
Staring into me
She lifts her arm
Pulls off her gloves
   Her hands
     Those hands
       Hands of a skeleton

Her hands are so pale
Paler than the rest of her
Almost pure white
I look now at her fingers
   Long
     Lithesome
       They look fragile

She reaches out
Towards me
I try to pull back
The monitor beeps again
   Faster
     Faster
       Beeping too fast

She touches me
Cradles my head
Reaches into my mouth
Pulls something out
   It's warm
     It's glowing
       It looks alive

I think it's my soul
My vision clouds
Darkness eats my peripherals
The monitor beeps again
   Slower
     Slower
       Beeping too slow

All of a sudden I see pictures
Scenes from my life
Played out again before my eyes
It was a good life
   Full
     Significant
       With no regrets

I realize something
I must be dying
I realize something else
She's not a woman at all
   An angel?
     That's it
       The Angel of Death