by Debbie Kerr

Created on: June 01, 2008

prettily papered walls
nooks and crannies line the hall
lawn lights standing silent sentry
benches sitting on cement demarcations -
the rules of engagement
at Assisted Living
are at once sedate and soothing
while ramrod expectations of behavior
and the cloyingly persuasive
knowledge one is definitely buying
her fair measure of peace.

Her unique individuality -
stamp maker for Papua
and more foreign locales,
photographer scotch hopping
across the globe,
a young woman so scarred from
radiations her womb rejected fetuses
her sister crippled by
the same affliction -
these are expressed
in her careful attention to detail
like artwork across her walls
in stamps of exquisite beauty
and treasures carefully gathered

A worry line knits her brow
one she rarely gives voice to
who will care for these books?
the coffers are emptying -
When I go
where I will go
who will I have left?
Her memory is slipping
like sand through fingers -
which will go first -
memory or mind?
The exit sign blinking angrily
on off on off
while a bland faced aide
wheels her out the door.

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