Ah, at last he sleeps, perchance to dream,
Or shall he save his dreaming for his waking hours,
And so saying, up he sits,
No time to even gather his wits.
“When do we get off this bus, when do we get home?
He cries all alarmed, but once becalmed he sleeps again,
(at this point I must take a pen)
“Look around you” when he woke I said,
“Is this not your room, your TV, your bed?”
I said, “look over there, Spike your cat, look
Through the curtains and tell me, what’s that?”
Asleep again, Ohhhhh..............! Weary sigh,
That! Is the garden that once filled him with pride,
And became his sanctuary the day he cried, “Toby, Oh Toby!”
His Airdale Terrier of twelve faithful years,
Had gone beneath the snowy turf, I dug well that day,
I did my dears,
“Who are you, where are you from, are we related?”
The questions bomb about me again, but can I take cover?
“What’s been happening, have you got a lover?”
“No!” I say, believe or don’t love, there’s only you,
But I know it’s true,
Eating little, he once ate well, he used to run all
Over, yesterday fell, crossing the living room
Floor he was, (bloody Hell!) I said, “Where are you going?”
He said, “I want my hat, a white cricket one”,
The second test had just begun!
Yoga, cricket, badminton, football, in his youth,
He could master them all, some only see the man he is now,
The sunken eyes, the worried brow, the tormented body,
Rarely at peace, and the carer who cares thinking
Only, release and ashamed to do so.
But there’s limits on patience and endurance, you know!
Must be up, there’s washing to do and that cat litter does pong!
Ohhhh...... He’s waking again.