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Bodies Turned Traitors

His coarse fingers
Rubbed her back
In long strokes
Down her spine.
–
It was getting late,
And dinner was ready inside,
They sat on the front steps
Watching another sunset.
–
There was no conversation
About what lay ahead,
He saw that she was tired
But willing as always to try.
–
Since there’d been many
Attempts to create a way
To accommodate fully
Their more fragile state.
–
There were so many lapses
Of memory, and black outs,
And disorientation, now
She needed him constantly.
–
Together they had faced
Poverty, struggle, defeat,
Reuilding, survival and success,
But nothing as hard as this.
–
Now that old age had come,
Their bodies turned traitors,
Deceiving all their efforts
To maintain good health.
–
Long life meant confronting
Malfunctioning defective genes,
That breaks fundamental things
Like minds, and hearts, and lives.
–
Now in their golden years,
Nothing past could’ve stopped
The deteriorating of her mind
And the trembling in him.
–
At sundown they went inside
Ending another good day,
Where she recognized him
And his tremors subsided.
–
The years took a terrible toll
On his physical abilities
And affected her mental faculties
Yet nothing superseded their love.

Ria 2016

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