The Old Commandment

Come. Come read to me.
He loved Heaney’s Open Ground.
I loved him, so I did.
I was midway through Death of a Naturalist,
there by the clotted water in the shade of the banks,
when he said I pooped myself.
Sure enough.
Changing a baby teaches genesis.
Changing an old man reveals how it ends.
It was troubles.
But I loved him, so I did.
 

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12 Comments

  1. consolationofmirth on February 5, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    “I loved him. So I did.” brought me to tears. The best kind.

  2. Patricia Hunter on February 5, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    I know this – this genesis and this end. I fed, cleaned and changed my bedridden mother the last 18 mos of her life. I truly loved her, so I did.

  3. Christie on February 5, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    “It was troubles.” 🙂

  4. mike graves on February 5, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    ” Child is Father to the man”

  5. Melinda Viergever Inman on February 5, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    This is poignant. Real love is often composed of troubles.

  6. tim on February 5, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    JDB- anne+i have stood on ‘holy ground’ in our home preparing our parents for their return “home”
    ….encourages us to live today fully alive and with no regrets

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