it isn’t easy to comprehend
what mercy truly is
in certain circumstances
you’ve seen the types,
listless in the hallways,
silver-haired heads bobbing on the pillows
of their own double-chins
memories of your grandmother, triggered
by the olfactory assault
when you enter the cage of a building
where they reside for now
liquid protein shakes --
vanilla, strawberry and chalk
administered as human fuel
(for some through a feeding tube)
do they have a sixth sense
like a cool breeze or warm rays of sun
when the angels of mercy
slip in to accompany them home?
© nan, 2014
[Written for The Sunday Whirl and Poets United, a Wordle poem using the words: type, easy, double, mercy, cage, list, trigger, assault, fuel, guess, and six.]
14 comments:
You have painted a sad scene here that makes us hope angels of mercy do exist!
Getting old and waiting is a terrible thought..getting old is fine..made better by feeling a little free..vivid and fierce write
This is a sad one indeed…time moves so fast, we are older now….getting older by the moment.
This is a haunting piece. It made me sad because I've seen it too many times. Old folks being warehoused is unsettling, especially when they are all too often forgotten by their families.
Their heads resting on the pillow of their double chins........you have captured the feeling of captivity well in "the cage of a building where they reside for now". Such a life likely does feel blessed release when the angels of mercy arrive.
i hear you....mercy is what comes at the end of a good life...not to leave us there but take us gntly into the beyond...i felt it with my MIL....its hard to see...and def hard to be them....
Sad write--and you just nailed this--it pulls at my heart strings
This is so intense....fervently hope that angels of mercy fly in to accompany them home...
nan, this is so sad. My mom spent her last years in a nursing home. I could completely relate to your imagery.
Pamela
You really do wonder what the people in the nursing home do thing. It would be a blessing probably if they did not think too much. I also, like Gabriella, hope that angels of mercy DO exist...and when I need one of them they will find me.
Poignant write! It seems to me that the Angel of Mercy waits so long to come for some of the old ones. Their suffering goes on and on....
My Mother spent her last few weeks in a nursing home. Your words triggered so many memories, and how after visiting with her, I'd come home and write, hoping to relieve the sadness I felt. Well written and oh so real,
Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/first-day-of-the-month-10110/
Sad poem, but written in such a beautiful way, you just have to enjoy reading this!
An excellent write about a depressing reality.As we live in a secular society that regards the aged as expendable and of no value one can only pray for a quick death in one's sleep before it gets to this stage.
Post a Comment