Respite care rubs both ways

After making her coffee and lunch

in the hospice kitchen, I

find respite in my book of poems

which can hold a hand, an eye,

an ear, but won’t say how long

is a piece of string

or whether hope is the shape

imagined.

Despite losing weight and time

she seems today infused

with more wellness

which I once could define

but now find in the crumbs on a plate

in the focus of an eye

and in a way of being on a bed

without surrender.

Time brakes even

as it forces us both back

to the pace at which

fruit ripens, warm air rises

and for now the hours are ours to pass

with or without words

taking time out

where the rest is for life.