The Café Philos Poetry Prompt For Them That Be Wild Things (April 11, 2019)
Has there been a moment, time, person, event, etc. in your life that you thought and felt was so beautiful and fulfilling you would not have regretted dying after it?
Not that you would have wanted to have died, but that you would have had no regrets afterwards……… Here’s my story Paul, a tale of no regrets…………..
Olive Eyes
I’d forgotten to pump-up the car tyres
The car’s out the front
We’ve got to be going soon
The appointment note is crumpled in my hand
It’s over an hours drive to the city
My mother-in-law is waiting to see us off
She’s pensive, knowing I’m on edge
Feeling for her daughters predicament
My wife, my patient, looks at me forlornly
Her pleading olive eyes make me more panicky
Now to transfer her from our bed
Into her borrowed wheelchair
I’ve no idea, it’s my first go
Damn, the chair’s tyre’s are nearly flat too
No time now, we must leave
Another transfer into the car
I almost stumble, she’s awkward to move
She’s unsteady, her legs aren’t working
I firmly grab her around the waist
And she clasps her arms over my shoulders
A gentle embrace of respect
We wryly smile at each other
She looks at me, with her pleading olive eyes
I stay strong, but I’m anxiously shaking
Finally I’ve positioned her into the car
I somehow fold the borrowed wheelchair
Frustrated, throwing the chair into the boot
Off we drive, I’m trying not to over-speed
Nervously over-gripping the steering wheel
The whites of my knuckles plain to see
Soon we’re approaching the city centre
Agape, I’ve little idea of where to go
She looks at me with her pleading olive eyes
Bravely I say “Just a few more blocks”
Blindly lucky, I eventually find our destination
An imposing building, tall and dark grey
Ungracefully I transfer her out of the car
Wheeling her in, “damn” these flat tyres
Eight storey’s up to the Doctors rooms
He’s a renowned Neurologist, there’s none in our town
We greet him, he’s a confident, but sombre man
And my wife looks at him with her pleading olive eyes
Knowingly, I think, he’s seen those sort of eyes before
There were tests, lots of questions, and more examinations
Our time there seemed to be standing still
And silently we wait for blood results to return
Eerily the Doctor begun to speak and explain
A strange aura of hush fell upon us
As we listened to his authoritative voice
“It’s my diagnosis, that you’ve the Neurological disorder, Multiple Sclerosis”
The long hour’s drive home was stunned quiet
Except for the many rolling tears
Trickling from my wife’s pleading olive eyes
And on the road the cars tyres felt flatter
The next day, I pumped the tyres up
On her borrowed wheelchair, and on the car
That signalled the beginning of our long journey
Another thirty years of her gracious and everlasting smile
Wheeling over the lumpy roads, until the last bend
Looking at me no more, with her pleading olive eyes
Ivor Steven (c) 2018.
