NaPoWriMo Day 5

Lives Untold

“When a person dies, a library is burned.” ~ Edmund White

While volunteering at a hospital
I saw and old man, dying
alone in his room -
a stark, plain room
with no flowers or cards or balloons
and no family.
This old man,
who had traveled the world
and had experienced life
like most people never would -
he had no family
to visit him or care.
Whenever I talked to him,
his eyes twinkled
like the stars in the sky
and he would tell stories
of amazing adventures.
A week later
the old man died.
I watched as the lights
in his eyes
fizzled and disappeared forever.
My heart broke,
knowing that all
his wondrous tales
would go unheard
like a new library
burnt to the ground,
would go unread.