I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

29 April 2012

He Was the One Looking After Me


He was the one looking after me
again, tonight, when I wept.

It was time to tell the truth.

Just the two of us 
quietly companionable,
reading the Sunday papers
almost as if we were home;
our heads close together,
the ward for once peaceful.

‘Do you get lonely at night?’ he asked.
‘Well I have the cats,’ I said, 
then paused and blurted, 
‘To tell you the honest, yes I do,’
and burst into tears. ‘But I can’t
take care of you any more, darling.
It’s become too much for me
to manage on my own.’

He nestled my head on his shoulder,
put one arm around me, with the other
stroked my hair — so gently, I felt 
my hair was golden silk.

It will be all right,’ he said.
‘You must do what’s best for you.’

We’d already talked of ‘the new place’
and when he’d be moving there.
He was getting jack of the hospital,
looking forward to leaving.

And so I said the rest: 
‘It’s temporary now, because that
was already authorised, but it will
become permanent. Unless you really 
hate it; then we’d find another place.’

I promised I’d bring him back home 
to visit, even stay overnight — 
when the kids can fly up for a weekend
(or any one of them) and assist;
afraid now to try on my own.

He held me untiI I was calm.
‘Drive safely,’ he said when I left.
‘I love you,’ we both said.

April PAD Challenge #29: Take a favorite line or image from an earlier poem this month and re-work it into a new poem. This title is a line from my Day 21 poem, Taking the Obs.

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