on the radio
in the restaurant

Mellow Yellow       mellow
                cello
Beatles muzak

Beatles music
jukebox

in the nursing home

to calm the
aging hippies

I walk through the world
looking out
through a dark glass,
dirtied and obscured
by passing storms
that nevertheless
follow me about--
blurring
my vision
of the world,
but not
the world's vision
of me.

In the searing heat
and the ancient, arid dust

he is birthed
he is raised
and he sees

the heavy burden
the utter oppression
and the desperate poverty
his people daily endure

and he knows
in the most elemental facet
of his being

that he has come
to save them

no matter the cost

to himself.

Party in the Nursing Home

In the great leveling
of advanced age
we are all strangers,

all friends,

at once
known

and unknown.

Long time family,
we've just met.

We share our cake
whether we know
who has come to the party

or not.

an Alzheimer's stranger,
he wheels in
and joins our party.

Married Love

Ancient and bent,
after pushing her wheelchair,
he feeds her.