Aging and loss of Symmetry

Aging and the loss of Symmetry

She hated leaving one half grapefruit
on the wooden cutting board in the kitchen,
so she had another child. Now
there was an even number of children,
each dutifully eating one half grapefruit
with their cereal and eggs every morning,
leaving the cutting board to be cleaned,
dried and put away.
She arranged her children as a symmetrical
set of four, as she needed, a kaleidoscope
of unexplored personalities, chess pieces
with no faces, to be moved on the board of life.
Finally, being old and blind, each child comes home to
sit and talk with her, to hold her deeply
wrinkled hand, making their peace with her.
This is no time to arrange the four of them.
no grapefuits to cut for their breakfast.

There is nothing now but her and each of them

in the quiet of the hospital room.
She reaches out to her youngest child,
smiles that dreamy smile of those close to
death and says, “I wish I
had gotten to know you sooner.”

.

photograph from http://flickr.com/photos/olsenweb/86377696/