Shaking Hands With Fate

We sit across a table eating Pho; 
two old friends, sharing food 
and stories of our little worlds

Of my new love; my old projects
of his sweetheart; his old business
the dross men use to hide our hearts

We timidly tiptoe towards truth;
tiny steps in the deepening dance  
of two old friends, carefully sharing

We talk of our ageing families;
my father's dementia and
his mother's parkinson's

He hesitates to use the chop sticks
that he's been so proficient with
and tentatively, he takes a fork 

His hand absently stirs the soup
with the fork, as we dance away,
carefully, back to our little worlds

I feel the shaking of his hand
as we shake hands goodbye
and I wish that I could forget
Copyright © | Year Posted 2015

Poem

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Allison Avatar
July 16, 2015 at 3:49 PM
'as we dance away, carefully, back to our little worlds' dementia is simply heartbreaking - so vividly descriptive David it brought me to tears:-(hugs Jan xx 7
Allison Avatar
July 16, 2015 at 7:36 PM
My dad's brother died of Parkinson's and mum has memory issues caused by a fall so I found it very moving in so many ways:-( hugs jan xx
Brown Avatar
July 16, 2015 at 7:25 PM
Thank you Jan - it's a true story. Dementia is indeed a terrible thing. My friend however, just found out he has Parkinson's as does his mother...which made me think of the irony...sometimes, not remembering would be a blessing. Thank you for your very kind comments
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