Simple Things for an Ending

It is the simple things we miss when it comes to an ending,
the conversations in car rides,
the questions and answers at dinner,
the homework done with blunt pencils,
the daily news shared at the table,
the laughs at slapstick comedies,
the injuries cleaned and cared for,
the stuffed animals treated by the vet,
the tea parties set for me and the cat,
the sword duels to save the castle,
the bicycle rides in circles,
the baby dolls put to sleep in beds,
the bouncing balls tossed over fences,
the games of chess played to draws,
the trips to the park swings and slides,
the Olympic races to my apartment door, 
the stories read and dreamed on toilet bowls,
the characters sketched in marble journals,
the scribbled lines on looseleaf paper,
the names written letter by letter by practicing hands.
I think of these simple things and so much more,
when things come to abrupt, complicated ends.