YOU HAVE A VISITOR
“You have a visitor”
“… Have I ? …”
“Hello! How are you?”
Me?
To see me.
Who?
I know him . . .
Not …? … I think so
You?
Who are you?
Do I know you?
Should I know you?
“… Oh … Yes … Hello! …”
Familiar …
and he knows
who I am.
… Who I am
… Who am I?
‘I’m not at home, you know.’
Not at my home.
In a Home
On my own.
At home.
“Are you happy here?’
I used to know,
I think,
what happiness was …
Now? …
It’s not important
… Is it?
“ … Yes …”
Nod …
Shake my head.
“Do they feed you well?”
Do they?
Sometimes …
I think
“… Yes …”
“Isn’t the weather lovely?”
I like the sun.
When it shines.
… and the rain.
… Not the wind.
“… Windy …
It’s very windy …”
“Do you sit outside sometimes?”
I think so.
I don’t know
It’s nice.
“Yes . It is very windy”
“ … The leaves are moving …”
It’s not my day
It was my day
… Once.
It’s not my day.
Yesterday was my day.
… Once.
When I was a child.
But I am a child.
Aren’t I?
“Do they provide entertainment for you?”
“… Sometimes …”
‘Are they looking after you?’
They help me.
She helps me
Who is she?
She wants to help me.
I don’t want help
But I need help
Don’t I?
When I’m wet
My chair’s wet
I need help
Take me away.
Let me be
Help me
“… Oh, Yes …
… The leaves are moving …”
“Oh, look, it’s tea time”
My time
They’ll help me eat
Something else to do.
… To do something
To be me…
But not here.
I’m all right here
I’m happy here
… Am I?
For now … Yes
“… Is it ?…
… I do like tea …”
“… When can I go home?…”
“You are at home”
“. . . Am I? …”
“I’ll come again … soon”
“… Thank you”
# # #
Perhaps next week?
We are not dead
Neither are we alive
Only react
Never initiate
Only react
We …
mechanisms,
contraptions
Feel
But
No sense –
That’s nonsense
Only Pain brings relief
from not being alive
# # #
The above is a recounting, to the best of my memory, of the conversation during a visit I paid a few years ago now, to a dear old friend who had, for several months, been living in a nursing home.
Roland's Ragbag 