Visiting Hours Poem by Greg Davidson

Hair, grey and thinning,
A face lined with memories.
Like an autumn day
Bright joy against horizon’s clouds.
Smiles offer warm comfort,
While storms hide behind furrowed brows,
And clinging to the corner of an eye,
A single tear.

Family ties re-tied.
Bonds frayed by time and distance.
Unshared hopes and dreams,
Entwined with memories.
Words contend to mend
Exorcising the guilt of loneliness
Those weeks, months, years washed away
In a single tear.

Oft washed blue lino,
Softly stealing passing steps.
Chips in off-white walls
Mark the passing of wheeled beds
Like yesterday’s high tide,
On thickly painted plaster.
And clinging to the corner of my mind,
A single fear.

Loose woven blankets
On stiffly starched white linen.
Thin on fragile bones,
Skin stiffly starched, blue veined
A dry and withered hand
Covered gently by another
And clinging to the corner of my eye,
A single tear.

In bed my mother lies,
Her spirit by age betrayed
In her smile I see,
More than I had hoped to find
On her face I find
More than I had dared to fear,
And clinging to the corner of her eye,
A single tear.