The Bargain
“Take care of me
And I’ll take care of you,”
He said to the house
Where he lived
Alone.
Seeking some
Solicitous solution
To a crisis created
By God only knows,
He pleaded patiently,
“Take care of me
And I’ll take care of you.”
Over and over
He offered up
This baffling bargain
But to no avail,
For the house held
No such power.
Nor did he.
Caught in a quagmire
Fashioned of fate’s folly,
The house and he
Failed to seal a deal.
Haggling was hopeless.
“Take care of me
And I’ll take care of you,”
Sadly slipped away.
Patent pacts,
Acquitted accords
Altered nothing.
“Take care of me
And I’ll take care of you,”
Dutifully disappeared as
Destiny decreed.
Gone now, together,
Both he and the house
Are out of sight.
Yet they lie visible still,
In mindful memories
Held and restored
Forevermore. Judith
DeChesere-Boyle – March 9, 2014
In
memory of my son, Alex Stevenson
I wrote the poem above after a lengthy and wonderful
conversation yesterday with Alex’s good friend, Tony Randall, who works for CAL
FIRE. Tony and I laughed and cursed and chuckled about the good and the bad
that hovers in our memories still. We talked about the family’s decision to
move Alex from his beloved, wreck of a home, because he was too ill to take
care of himself any longer. It was a sad transition for many reasons. Tony
revealed to me however, something to which I was unaware: a bargain Alex had
made with his house. “Take care of me and I’ll take care of you,” he had told
the house when he was diagnosed with brain cancer shortly after moving into it.
Years later, when finally the move away from his little, rundown house was
inevitable we all were sad. Alex certainly was, and on a very real level I was
as well. At the time, however, I did not know about the bargain Alex had
offered up to his house. I did not learn about it until yesterday, and it
caught me by surprise. So, I felt I needed to write about it. This poem is the
result.
No comments:
Post a Comment