Next Week
Today I went to visit my friend
at the memory care unit.
We ate pizza and she told me
how much she hates it
and how everything would be okay
if she was at her house.
She told me she was going to climb
over the fence and walk all the way
home if she had to. She told me
the same thing last week.
Everyone hates it there.
It’s a beautiful place
with a lake in the front yard.
On the way home I stopped
at Walmart and saw a little boy
standing in a grocery cart.
I’m a big boy, he shouted
and I realized that next week
he would be graduating
from college. And the middle-aged
woman picking out the best bananas
would be in a nursing home
and how many of the other shoppers
would even be alive?
3 thoughts on "Next Week"
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What an incredible contrast!
Heartbreaking:
She told me she was going to climb
over the fence and walk all the way
home if she had to. She told me
the same thing last week.
Everyone hates it there.
It’s a beautiful place
with a lake in the front yard.
Oh, you captured the bittersweet so well. Life goes way too fast! My heart breaks for your friend. We would ALL rather be in our own homes…
I have an aunt who tells us the same thing every week. And yes, the last stanza. It all passes so quickly.