Perhaps I should have said it just between
The wine and grace, the wishing and the blessing.
That was the time for words, when the scene
Had just begun, before we passed the dressing.
Before the knife cut deep into the breast
I might have paused, looked up and all around
Into the eyes of each of them.
A jest Came easier, wit tossed into the sound
And lost. Between the stuffing and the pie
Was yet another quiet moment when
I could have told them all. Instead I sighed
And let it pass. Just once before the end
I should have cried: “Listen before you go.
I love you. I just wanted you to know.”

Peter J. La Forge