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Waiting for the inevitable
Contributed by
endeformetrance
on
Tuesday, 15th July 2003 @ 08:45:00 PM in AEST
Topic:
Lifepoems
|
Perched underneath a fading floral patterned parasol
On a sticky green plastic chair
Trembling feebly as a messily presented salmon sandwich
Is lifted by an equally shaking hand
A hand belonging to somebody else
Lifted up to your gaping, expectant mouth
Familiar territory for the hand
Where saliva has collected and needed to be removed
Where pills have been poked and where teeth have been brushed
Minute white hairs plucked from the chin
Tongue lifted, pinched between two fingers
To ensure easy access for a pipette.
O yes, these hands know your face too well
Your folded, cracked, crumbling skin
Flaking like weathered paint on statues in council funded patches of green
Where you used to sit until you became too weak
These hands know your chapped lips and sagging, lagging neck
Milky eyes and nicotine-stained teeth
Your grey hair has many a time been blue-rinsed by these
Your makeup applied in a desperate attempt to preserve –
But there is no formaldehyde in your foundation
You cannot be saved
It is too late
You are decaying
You are rotting
Gazing, pleading with those nearly blind eyes
Jaw hanging open like a busted car door
Ancient saliva glands working overtime
Waiting to be fed
You depend on these hands totally
Yet the sickening, blood thickening
Disgusting, revolting
Mind convulting, truly vile and repulsive truth is this:
You depend on these hands totally
But without you, these hands would not exist, could not exist
You made these hands when you were still young and healthy
You created them when you could still grip them
In those days it was your hands feeding this mouth
O how the tables have turned
‘Feed me’ your barely readable face seems to say
‘Feed me’ you whisper.
Or is it ‘Free me’?
Is that what you’re trying to say?
Release you?
That’s not my responsibility
But know this:
When I lift this sandwich up to your cavernous mouth
I am trembling
Trembling with anticipation
Waiting for the inevitable with baited breath
I’ll feed you now, and smile sweetly
For it is just a matter of waiting.
Copyright ©
endeformetrance
... [
2003-07-15 20:45:00]
(Date/Time posted on
site)
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Re: Waiting for the inevitable
(User Rating: 1 )
by PoloRM on
Wednesday, 16th July 2003 @ 02:19:35 AM AEST
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a Message)
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| I like this poem! I've always wondered about old age. It's rather a sad poem though =S Well to each his own ways of reading a poem! ;) |
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Re: Waiting for the inevitable
(User Rating: 1 )
by tease_whizz on
Wednesday, 16th July 2003 @ 04:32:26 PM AEST
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a Message)
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a touching and brutally honest portrayal of old age and the vulnerability and dependency that accompanies it. some of the images made me think of a child and how life is somewhat cyclical.
not too Larkin-esque at all - although it did remind me of some of his poems (just like Ian's do). Read 'Love Songs In Age' if you haven't already. nice to see you're still writing, keep them coming, Kate x |
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