8 days later

 

October 13, 2013  (I was 68)

 

         8 days later

To come down the stairs

not of independent volition

is a demanding revelation

not whole and immediate

but of considered expansion

well after the fact of the act

The initial realization of survival

is quickly followed by truth of insecurity

The assessed relief no major damage

and a few deep breaths acknowledge the grace

of an occasion of good fortune

Then a shift of attention to minor immediacies

There are abrasions contusions and sprains

blood to stop ointments and bandages to apply

while the considerations begin to focus

The implications insistently apparent

alone in the house in the night

mobile phones out of reach if I were immobile

Then the ibuprofen and extra pillows

the ice bag moved from station to station

with an amalgam of prayerful incantation

Curses at careless unawareness

Hesitant tear of self-pity lost

in a grander wakefulness as I dropped to sleep

Night aroused the deeper pains

Aches of bounced muscles and yanked sinew

arm shoulder hip knee and ankle

presented during my dawn walk

knowledge now that a recurring concept

would wait atop every stair