Day 771 of the Daily Poems. As last year was drawing to a close, a friend has died. And at this beginning of this new year we will shortly be gathering at his funeral. ‘Off the mountain’ is written in his memory and is also a tribute to his devoted wife.
Off the mountain
She helps him stand up
with much effort from his chair
to shuffle across the room.
She helps him into his wheelchair.
“This is going to be such a great day”
she tells him.
He has not been out of the flat
for a long time
for such a long time
and now there is the prospect
of a weekend away
on holiday with wife and family.
On the lawn of the holiday house
he sits in his wheelchair
clutching a croquet mallet.
He strikes a croquet ball
clean across the lawn
and with a fumble and a mumble
he tosses a boule
and he laughs
the first laugh for so many months
the first laugh since
they brought him down
from the mountain.
Peter Ualrig Kennedy