Four days this last week
I saw the world through the eyes
of ninety year old souls
capturing some of their
inner wisdom and their life’s tolls
Papa, a Minister, came with a portable kidney
dialysis set up in our spare bedroom
He's hooked-up nightly by seven
for a ten hour stint till the next morn
refreshed with verve without forlorn
His partner, lover and wife of sixty five years
a teacher of music, a first seat violinist
mother of three daughters and one son,
tennis player when her legs were young
led a choir of church hand bells ethereally rung
When first I met them twenty six years prior
He’d be on his Sunday pulpit proselytizing ‘good’
She’d fill every crevice in the vestibule
with sinuous violin minuets
her finger tips touching every human pore
Now she barely ambles but conjures strength
when incontinence assails her pride
Scurries, crouched, with her walker
resembling a diminutive Mother Teresa’s stature
They shared their ageless wisdom
reminding us of selflessness
we peered into their eyes, their souls
while caring for their whithering incarnate shells
seeing of what is soon to be ourselves
It is difficult to see the body deteriorate, but more so, the mind,I think. Glad for these elders that you are able to see their wisdom and give them the respect they deserve.
ReplyDeleteyes, my own Mother passed onto that unknow abyss. Her last couple of years she had to fight the demons of Alzheimer's. The mind can be wonderful thing yet in inverse it can be treachery uncontrolled.
ReplyDeleteYes the maze of our minds is something to fear and rejoice in, simultaneously sometimes. I am so sorry to hear of your mother's passing. Did she write poetry too? Did she have a chance to enjoy yours?
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