Sickness and Health

She always wondered what he thought,
he didn’t know of the 50 years of marriage
two children
several different places called home
a holiday cottage by the sea.
He had no knowledge of the clever fingers –
hands that could restore magic to broken machinery
or conjure improvements.
Of lost capacities
found only on videotape.
That the chapters of life were all complete
and now it was the appendix of a rest home –
full-time care
and one outing a week
a drive to the familiar part of the city
close to where he grew up.
The man in the shop didn’t see a grandmother, mother and wife
he saw only a woman in her 70’s buying two ice creams,
every week,
for several years.