In the Nursing Home

By Bear Gebhardt

My old momma, this learned woman,
is in this moment a child again---
her dust bowl eight year old farm girl self--
innocent, open, wide eyed, calm,
trusting me, her silver haired son
to bring her lessons from the wider world,
most especially where she'll sleep tonight.
"Right here, mom. This is your bed. Your name’s
on the door, and on the list of who gets meals."

She nods her head while learning, the way she once nodded
when her brother showed her how a horse needs brushed,
her mother how the eggs need whipping,
and, last year, the doctor decoding MRI anomalies.

My heart breaks, or at least goes soft.
"Here mom, drink your milk. I'll hold the straw
it's good for your bones."
She smiles, nods, sips.

 

 

Bear Gebhardt is a Senior Librarian at the New Buddhist Methodist Church, living in the foothills of northern Colorado,USA. He has been a free-lance writer for many decades and has published eleven books, two of the latest being “ A Wave of Thanks, and Other Human Gestures: 31 Quick Stories,” and “How to Stop Smoking in One Easy Second, A Heart Mountain Monastery Murder Mystery.” He has also published hundreds of articles, stories, essays and poems in well-known, somewhat-known and little known places.