A Role Reversed

A Role Reversed

The yellow light illuminates a picture
Of a mother an a son
One at the end of a journey
The other in the middle

The silver fork scoops
Breaded haddock and golden squash
Carried by a large hand
To a shrinking mouth

The mint green cap covers
A scabbed and hairless head
Once covered in brown tresses
And permed in a picturesque coiffeure

His grey eyes look
At her weak and dying face
He wants to hold on
But knows the moments are slipping

In the beginning
She would have nursed him
In this same room
In this same bed
With the same tender care