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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Still Beautiful

[image from eons.com]

She is ninety,
slim  and bent
with arthritis,
moving slowly,
and with pain.
She can barely walk,
and her hands are
gnarled claws,
bent and curled
and stiffened,
yet, morning, noon
and night,
when she
whisks the chapatis
together,
her hands move
as swiftly as a girl's,
practiced with the
thousands
of chapatis
she has made
for her husband
all the years
of their lives.

Today,
they both were ill,
huddled under blankets,
yet when he called her,
she hobbled over,
tending him
as tenderly
as if he were
a babe.

When she grew tired,
she sat up in  bed,
with an expression on her face
that made me think
of the three year old
she once was,
sleepy and grumpy,
yet unwilling to lay down
and miss
the grownup party
going on
in the other room.

Her long silver
pony tail,
her slim figure,
her oval face,
told me
she was
beautiful,
once,
a young girl
laughing and flinging
her hair
over her shoulder,
eyes alight and mischievous,
enticing her young husband,
her step a light dance
on the earth.

Now,
inch by painful inch,
bent over her walker,
she creeps down the hall
and gifts me with chapatis,
because she knows
I love them.

She is still
beautiful,
so beautiful,
just in
another way.

12 comments:

  1. Lovely and touching poems....having someone to care off is a gift and we should be thankful to the God above.The word "chappati" made me smile :)

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  2. The beauty of seeing true gifts. The insight of seeing what was...beautiful~

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  3. First, the word Chapati as UmaAnandane points out. They are over there? Here we prepare them and oh, they are so tasty. I have heard love songs along the lines of " You are my chapati". Well, such a moving poem. Got me thinking: oh, the loving spirit of a "phenomenal woman". Whether it is a good thing or not, it is upon Cupid.

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  4. Oh Sherry, this is wonderful, I love it. :-)

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  5. reminds me of my mom... also crippled by arthritis, yet always looking after us!

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  6. This is beautiful, Sherry. :-)

    Some people just light up a room and make others feel good. I've known that kind of beautiful person.

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  7. You write of a gift. Your gift to see "in another way" what is beautiful, recognize it, honor it, and hold it sacred. And you share it. Wonderful!!

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  8. It is nice that you write about the beauty of different ages and stages. I see this every day. Beauty that comes from the heart is the best beauty of all.

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  9. It makes me deeply reflective, as far along the path as I am, giving home support to those even farther along and seeing what life is like for them. The system, on paper, provides “support” to the elderly. But in reality, these people are on their own much of the time and the support the system sends in don’t do nearly enough – in fact are PROHIBITED from doing any cleaning , lifting, anything that would really help. My two little people were helpless in bed there yesterday, frail and frightened. But she leaped out of bed to help him when he called her. So touching. I always think so much about how everyone, every single person, has the most AMAZING story, and history. Thanks for reading:)

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  10. This is precious, Sherry. I wrote of aging love a while back. here's the link:
    http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2011/02/11/in-their-seventies/

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  11. I love this, Sherry. It so reminds me of my mother and grandmother. There is all kinds of beauty as shown with your words.
    Thank You!

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  12. Just lovely, Sherry...a reminder to us all that there is no limit to the beauty to be found in each of us...:)

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