Uncomfortable Chairs

The walk through the fields seemed to herald the event -
Daisies innocent and pollen-free so as not to offend
The sensitized senses of
She.

The door, the family, the call to enter - all part
Of this ritual of visiting; her stairs winding to introduce
Her bedroom - once an exuberant mismatch of domestic clutter,
Slapped now into astonishment by stark
Hospital signs.

Her smile reassuring - my awkward touch;
Hearts racing with anger and compassion;
I sit and wait for instruction - it will come.
This listener does as listeners do when all other faculties flounder -
Settle to uncomfortable chairs.

Powers to heal - books and cd's - things intangible to some
Suddenly grasped.
Division of room from life and life from room
Confirmed.

No longer plumped with ego,
No longer full of phrase or rhetoric rich
I am childlike, nervous - tense as a schoolgirl before the teacher
Whose lesson, once absorbed, will alter lives