Lying in a hospital bed
My father reached out with palsied hand
An autumn leaf, turned red and purple by time and life
Perched on a fragile limb, trembling as if there was a breeze
But there was not
Boney shoulders shrouded in blue cotton worn thin and soft from many washings
This once formidable man, an athlete, a scientist, a professor
Now reduced; now weak, thin, will-less
I smoothed special body butter from a blue and yellow tube onto his skin
Thin like rice paper; avoiding lesions, IVs and bandages
It smelled of lemon and sage, and
“That feels good,” he said
I tried to feed him lunch
“This looks delicious! Try a bite.”
He said he was just not into eating and spit out the food into a Kleenex.
~
Relephant Read:
In Praise of Hospice.
~
Author: Debra Scheufler
Editor: Emily Bartran
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