Charlie the Spider

I first met Charlie,

When we were just five,

What I loved about him,

Was he was always so alive,

He said, "Let's be spiders,

You can play on my web!"

So I called him "Charlie-the-Spider"

Yes, that's what we said,

We became friends-for-life,

Charlie-the-Spider and I,

Till our childhood adventures,

Were just memories by-and-by,

As we grew into manhood,

We both took a wife,

Who became the closest of friends,

For the rest of their life,

When our spouses gave birth,

We were there for each other,

Sharing our joys,

And our sorrows together,

This web we had woven,

Since we were just five,

Was an enduring friendship,

That continued to thrive,

It was one summer day,

That I got the call,

Charlie-the-spider,

Had taken a fall,

He's in hospital now,

Was what I was told,

In the Intensive Care Unit,

My heart it grew cold,

"Is there anything I can do?"

I asked, reaching out to his wife,

"Please, come here quickly."

Her voice trembled with strife.

I rushed to the hospital,

And into his room,

There were IV's and equipment,

And a deep sense of gloom,

There at his side,

Was his dear loving spouse,

Silently weeping,

Quiet as a mouse,

He's on life-support now,

She said, with tears welling,

They don't think he will make it,

The doctors were telling,

He slipped peacefully into a coma,

She explained, with trembling lip,

He never regained consciousness,

She softly quipped,

How could this happen?

She asked, crying on my shoulder,

I don't have the answer,

Was all that I told her,

They said he was brain dead,

In a vegetative state,

They want to remove life-support,

There's no reason to wait,

So as we all gathered round,

When they went to pulled the plug,

We each took our turn,

To give our final hug,

The minutes turned to hours,

Our death vigil not broken,

Waiting to release his grasp on life,

Those words remained unspoken,

Finally that moment came,

And much to our surprise,

Our dear friend Charlie-the-spider,

Slowly opened up his eyes,

He fixed his gaze on each of us,

And held us in his stare,

Although the doctors said it was impossible,

That he couldn't be aware,

Then Charlie seemed to struggle,

To take one final breath,

The moment of reckoning was at-hand,

The moment of his death,

Then a change occurred quite suddenly,

His face turned cherry red,

Then to blue, then to white,

We knew Charlie was dead,

Then the physician in attendance,

Went to whisk the empty shell away,

Charlie is an organ donor you know,

Or so his records say,

There's a woman in Poughkeepsie ,

Who is waiting for a heart,

His liver will save another life,

But that is just the start,

His eyes will go to Syracuse,

To help a blind girl see,

His kidneys will help two others,

So they can finally pee,

Thats really just the beginning,

He was healthy until the end,

His tissues will help others,

And put them on-the-mend,

Those gossamer threads of Charlie's life,

Has cast out many strands,

Charlie will live through others,

Though they may be in other lands,

His remains will go to science,

Where physicians get their start,

Through him many lives he'll save,

Charlie's really has done his part,

The web of life is highly complex,

Touching lives uncounted,

Though that gossamer web that holds us together,

Even in death Charlie won't be uncounted.

(c) BAM