Winter Flurries

Human decline is slow, seemingly

invisible as it gathers, the sub conscious assembles,

tiny spots of realisation seeping through,

like a sponge that’s drip dripping water

Grey walls aware of the preordained

but hiding under skeins of fibrous matter

 

We have to face all life’s dramas

which painfully present themselves to us

The death of loved ones, shocking

heart-breaking, feeling the struggle as you scuffle on,

too old to party, too young to mourn,

another piece of your jigsaw gone

 

Realign some years later, adapt again

because hips are sore, bone rubs on bone

A car crushed, not crashed, but scrapped,

tearing at your independence, as it’s taken away

and in the mirror of your reflection

your eyes let you down with a macular decay

 

Combine all that with fluid on the lungs,

heart failure, a hard pill to swallow

Doctor sets to in a scratchy vein attack,

an intravenous dose to flush you, rid you of fluid,

infirmity writhing, slithers down, struggles up,

no care for your dignity, how utterly horrid

 

Fine ten days later, no doctors around,

instead seeing red, winter berry shine,

your intense independence reappeared,

your strength regained, reclaimed and yet deaf ears

make me shout, but with annoyance, sneaks out,

then curling, shrinking, sears, denial never veers

 

By design a robin appears, rummages, flutters,

crimson breast flashing in crackling leaves

Breath turns shallow, heartbeat trembles, in the winter of life

as it swirls around, sweeping, moaning, pulling each way,

cold and brittle, spraying dust, as we must

But a little longer here on earth I pray