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Gravity Rides (Free verse) by Jealousy
Here's the man with teeth
like God's shoeshine,
He sparkles, shimmers, shines.
skin we and wrinkled as
a beach towel left forgotten in your closet
for 19 years.
Here's the man who has had gravity
as an obstacle his entire life,
first as a carpenter, then as a hiker, and now,
now as frail cancer patient, without the patience
to live or to die, only to see his family, Me.
Gravity keeps him under the prescribed sheets,
lets his IV drip
lets the blood flow to his legs he's too weak to use.
I don't know what kept me from
driving an hour and a half to
visit him when he was well.
but now it's gravity that pulls my eyes to
the floor when chokes on applesauce
because his jaw has to fight the same force to eat,
and even that is too weak to compete.
Everyday he asks my grandmother if he
can go hiking. I know if he could walk,
he would sneak out of the hospital, and into
the mountains. He would die in two
days without his medication, but he would
die doing what he loved, going down like
the band on the Titanic, playing until icy
water silenced their horns. He loved being
surrounded by auburn leaves
that fell because they are beautiful,
not because of gravity.
Votes: (green: user, blue: anonymous)
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Arithmetic Mean: 7.375
Weighted score: 5.638736
Overall Rank: 2160
Posted: May 14, 2004 8:29 PM PDT; Last modified: May 14, 2004 8:29 PM PDT
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Comments:
175 view(s)
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this is true feeling pome.good work