She is staying with us in the healthcare wing
For stronger lungs and legs
They called me to ask for a room and said
She will be a good patient, but her husband is strange
And I said yes and offered a bed
She is 86 and he comes every day at lunch
For a week now
Today as I walked toward the exit for lunch of my own
He was signing in at the visitor register
Wearing his usual hardware store trucker cap
Khaki shorts, tube socks and old tennis shoes
Holding a grocery bag in his left hand and signing in with the other
I noticed, gripped next to the bag handle, a splash of red
Three tiny sprigs of red snapdragon
And in that instant I felt a deep throb
A penetrating ache
A wish that I could fold quietly into the moment when he,
Turning from his path to the car
Bent into her garden
pulled his pocket knife from his shorts
and clipped those three precious stems
to curl up and live inside
a simple, pure gesture of love
I suppose I am strange too
