We'd finished dinner,
and I'd come into the den,
turned on the TV,
and she walked in,
kissed me on the cheek
like a million times before.
She said, I know it's late,
but if you don't mind,
my shopping's gotten a little behind,
and I think I'll drive down
to the grocery store.
I didn't look up, I just nodded, okay,
asked her if she'd hand me an ashtray,
and she did.
I reached out and squeezed her hand,
and then she left.
And I shuddered a minute
to think of my world without her in it.
And I re assuringly sought the touch
of my wedding band.
I must have been dozing
because I didn't hear the door,
and I thought, that's strange,
I've never done that before.
But I looked up and she
was standing by my chair,
kind of sneaked in on me, I said,
and she smiled and nodded her head.
And I told her that she looked
like an angel standing there.
For a long moment she
didn't say a thing,
and then she caressed
her gold wedding ring,
and I thought I saw a
teardrop in her eye.
You'll never know how much I love you,
she said.
And then I thought of the many years
that we had been wed,
and I told her that no one could be
as happy as I.
Then the strangest feeling filled that room,
not one of happiness, but one of bloom.
And for the first time in my life,
I saw sadness in her face.
I reached out to touch her,
but she drew away
and told me again that
ours was a love
that time could never erase.
And then I thought I heard a
thousand voices singing,
and I realized that it was a telephone ringing.
That's when I saw the halo
surround her golden hair.
Trembling, I picked up the receiver
and I heard a cold voice
saying there'd been a wreck
out on the highway.
And I knew that when I looked back,
she wouldn't be there
Because this was an angel's
way of say ing goodbye.