Change of Shift - Jan 27 2021

 

Change of Shift

Jan 27 2021

In a single bed

in a small room

that contains all she's kept,

the remnants of a life

approaching its end.

Attended by a nurse

on a 12 hour shift

who will hold her bird-like hand

and stroke her thinning hair.

As she has diminished with the years

so her world has contracted.

From a big suburban house

to a clever city condo,

then this tidy little cubicle

in Sunrise Seniors Care.

From mastery and agency

to dependency and frail.

But now she feels at home

beneath her heirloom quilt.

There's a favourite chair and table

culled from all the rest,

clothes on wooden hangers

and photos on the chest.

Some sentimental valuables

she keeps close at hand,

flat-soled shoes with Velcro straps

slipped underneath the bed.

Ambition wanes

the world contracts

the walls close in,

muscles waste

and bodies shrink

and breath grows short.

Shallower and shallower

through pale dry lips,

with a long expectant pause

as if it were her last.

Until a drawn out sigh

and all the air is gone.

The 12 hours end

and the next shift starts.