{"id":1887,"date":"2023-06-11T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T05:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2023-06-08T13:49:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:49:19","slug":"im-afraid-i-have-to-go-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/2023\/06\/11\/im-afraid-i-have-to-go-now\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m afraid I have to go now"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter\u2019s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077<\/em><\/p>\n

Title contributed by Miss Katie Scott<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been good at goodbyes.
\nWhen I changed jobs
\nI tried to disappear
\nSlip silently away before the party poppers
\nWere popped.<\/p>\n

When caught by smiling eyes
\nI\u2019d never know what to say
\nThank you always needs a qualifier
\nIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m ungrateful
\nI just haven\u2019t the words.<\/p>\n

Hellos were always better
\nI fall in to a well rehearsed
\nMeasure, a dance of words that
\nExplain who I am.
\nHellos are mostly about listening anyway.<\/p>\n

Now it seems my Hellos
\nAre behind me.
\nIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m not grateful,
\nI just don\u2019t have the words.
\nSo when I close my eyes,
\nKnow that I say thank you.
\nThank you without qualifiers.<\/p>\n

And although I may not have
\nAny Hellos left.
\nAt least I\u2019m done with goodbye.
\nMy last goodbye
\nWasn\u2019t so bad after all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also by this author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poem: My bubble<\/a><\/p>\n

Poem: A New Year Resolution<\/a><\/p>\n

Poem: It\u2019s not about the antibiotics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter\u2019s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Title contributed by Miss Katie Scott I\u2019ve never been good at goodbyes. When I changed jobs I tried to disappear Slip silently away before the party poppers Were popped. When caught […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2409],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poets-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}