Love Is

Love is a stern 86 year old man
Trying to pick up after life with duty and diligence
Skin flaking dust on the furniture
sleep cycles of an infant
Feeling warm and worn down from years of standing by her side

Ordering orderlies and nagging nurses
Scheduling hair appointments and nail appointments
Still calling her Sweetness and Sunshine
Sneaking her cookies every now and then
Reading the Pslams aloud to her at her hospital bedside

And after she's gone, his voice breaks on the phone
And he tells me 'she's with the Lord.'
And he lets tears fall from puffy pink eyes
As he puts her taupe old lady shoes into a garbage bag--
The shoes she's worn ever since I can remember.

R.I.P. Elizabeth Schultz
1922-2007