James Babbs writes

Just Like That

it’s Saturday night

but I’m not at home

I’m not out at the bars

getting drunk again

oh, no

I’m at the nursing home

visiting my mother and

I don’t want to be here and

I know

she doesn’t want to be here

but here we are

just a few short months ago

she was living in her own apartment

keeping track of her own medicines and

cooking

most of her own meals

yes, it’s true

she had a woman come

three days a week to help her

but she was doing okay and

things can change in an instant

sometimes

no matter what we do

we can never know

what’s waiting for us

just around the corner and

sometimes

after everything that happens

it can take us years

before we begin to understand

 Old Woman -- Kurt Peiser