Authors

  1. Schaefer, Judy MA, RN,C

Article Content

Has it not got down as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death? - -Abraham Lincoln

 

She woke in the middle of the morning

 

Or was it late at night-cold

 

sheet was thin, too thin

 

to protect against the front

 

that had settled in, after she fell

 

asleep, after cleaning foodstuffs

 

from her father's cupboards

 

Some frail bird had hit their door-knocked, forced entry, impatient

 

She slept alone, in a silent house

 

with none but birds at the window

 

where they had built a shaky nest

 

To bring on sleep within the wicker

 

she prayed for her father's sleep

 

in his new room-so like her son's dorm room

 

square, rectangular, ivy old

 

She awoke-made instant coffee from a jar

 

with a stainless steel spoon

 

She prepared-to return

 

To sell his car-his house

 

To find a hotel near the nursing home