Tender Here

She lay still in the body cast
We weren't sure how long she'd last
Twas my turn to stay the night
Truth be told, that's alright.
She was frail, weak and cold
She mumbled in her sleep I'm told
Nightmares ghastly she would fight
Those horrors that nipped and bit all night.
Her body was broken, but her perfect feet
Were always cold beneath the sheet
"Don't touch her feet," I told the nurse.
"She's ticklish there, and what's worse
She's nowhere to go, no way to fight.
So please leave her toes alone, alright?"
Oh that she could kick, I sorrowed her pain
Incoherent mumbles were all that remained.
She could point, a bit, from her better hand
Though that, too, was ripped and torn, and oft ran
Bloody in drops that rarely ceased.
Lover, mine, her body was creased
Like an old paperback, with a broken spine.
But miraculously, her back survived..
I knew from her toes, her feet that were cold.
Still she was ticklish, and we'd grown old
Together. Her feet I could touch and I knew
Only my touch could without tickles true
Comfort her feet, ever chilled so.
I warmed them softly, helping blood flow.
She'd sigh and relax, and I knew she felt love
Tonight I brought lotion, warmed, to rub
Against her feet, gently, with care
Pain might steal her mind, but she was still there.
Six decades I'd lived, but only two with her
Yet six centuries would be insufficient I'm sure.
Two hands and comfort, without help from above
All I could do was rub her feet, with love.

Copyright © Matthew Wetter | Year Posted 2017

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