Propped Up
Devon Balwit
Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.
(John 21:18)
She pulls him out each morning like the ficus,
the air and sunlight revitalizing. He props his
walker at garden’s edge and smiles and waves,
smiles and waves, an animated lawn gnome
canvassing votes. Bob, she scolds, you’ll scare
the children. But Bob isn’t scary, just cautionary,
John 21:18 enfleshed, dragged about by his belt.
Someday, I, too, will be a Bob, always settling,
just in front of the busy mop. A loved one —
I hope kind — will reposition me out of harm’s way,
bringing me back inside for rain or dinner.