Valentine’s Day
All the pretty things –
tulips in flame and gold,
chocolate mice with long tails,
an epi, the slender French loaf
cut and spread like a stalk of wheat,
I gathered them for our supper.
And then I stretched out
and waited motionless
while the neutrons searched my bones.
I would not know tonight
what the bone scan knew.
But I would kiss him,
wish him joy of the day,
and help him cut his meat,
and remind him to take his pills.
Later I would help him
unbutton his shirt,
and tuck the blanket over his shoulders.
And so would end the celebration,
walking carefully lest the house
totter and fall.
Lari Smith