Single Rose
With her walker
She made it
Down the ramp
Around the potted plant
To the chair
Across from me
“I used to shop in here
All day …
Now I have to
Take a little rest”
I smiled and told
Her a lie,
“I understand”
She said
she was 85
She told me
It’s been three years
Since her husband died of a stroke
he was 91
She said she tries
To get out
And not sit at home all day
That there’s only
So much TV she can take
She said her and her younger sister
Used to shop all day long
And have the best of times
Her sister’s dead now
She talked about her grown kids
How proud she is of her law-enforcement-son
How much she misses her daughter …
The one who died of a stroke at 43
“We were on the phone, and she said,
‘Mama, my face feels funny – can’t feel it.’ ”
Later
She showed me a cross on a chain
That she bought before she sat down
Made out of Mother of Pearl
“It reminded me of my mother.
She loved Mother of Pearl.”
When we parted ways
I felt
I had aged
TL