Olivetti

Olivetti

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

6pm till 7pm


We push a dull, greyish-white,

scored button and pause


for the chipped-nicked, creaking

door to yawn.


We ascend the scuff-scraped, over mopped

linoleum clad stairs.


Down scented strips of disinfectant,

we pass rented units filled with breathing, weathered-blotched skin.


We dispense a jelly like placebo

and try to ignore the reverberating gurgling maladies.


I place a gentle kiss on her soft cheek

and ask, “how are you feeling, Gran?”


Her withered eyes flutter open for but a second

and she smiles her last goodbye to me.


I hold her frail hand, “Go to my granddad,” I say,

“go to your Andy.”


And so she does.


Tomas Bird - Shallow Sea 2013

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