Hourglass

This poem was written after my grandfather passed in April 2009.  Please don't let that fact scare you away from telling me what you think about this poem, because I really value and appreciate true reactions and thoughts to my poetry.  I want to know what you really think about it, comments only help me learn new things.  Thanks for reading my work.  There will definitely be more to come, I'm hoping to write some more new product in the real near future as well.

Hourglass

He's a tired old man,
His years have slipped away
like sands in an hour glass,
slowly, gradually,
wearing away at his body.
Each grain, a moment,
a memory,
slipping through the narrow space
we know as the present.
Coming to rest, mingling, and mixing
with others that we store deep inside.
He now lays in bed,
unable to walk,
unable to hear,
his vision been gone
for many a year.
Only a few specks remain,
waiting to fall,
used not anymore
to store memories,
but to recount,
and wade through those
made once before.

No longer responding
to those around him,
yet interacting
with the unseen,
showing excitement,
and wonder,
like a child
who maintains his innocence.
It won't be to long now,
he lies quiet,
no expression on his face,
no life, behind his eyes.
His breathing slows,
little, by little
each breath farther apart,
shorter, shallower
then the last
till there was nothing,
his body completely limp,
lifeless.
He slipped away so peacefully,
so tranquil,
the way it should be.