death rattle

My grandfather is dying. It's been about four months since the actual process began. Withdrawal from the world. Tangible and thick. Asleep more than awake, not enough energy to partake in anything more than acknowledging someone is in the room, and then nodding back to sleep. It's hard to watch, but I feel okay. I've never watched this process happen. Our family has always experienced sudden or complicated deaths. Young or disease related, or completely unexpected. There's something very painful, yet very serene, about watching death quietly tiptoe into a life. He'll be somewhere else very soon.