Heaven wasn't ready

I wrote this poem while I was convalescing from my second knee replacement just before the first lockdown. I was reminded of my brother-in-law who, for the last twelve years of his life, was paraplegic following a motorcycle accident. With his wry sense of humour, he would grin and say, “I’m going to heaven bit by bit, Sandra.”

HEAVEN WASN’ T READY

Heaven wasn’t ready

To take the whole of me,

So the Good Lord in his wisdom

Said, “Not the entirety”,

I’ll take her home,

Just bit by bit

So we can get accustomed

And try to make her fit.

First the molars bit the dust

Way back in my youth

Even then they went in stages

He took them tooth by tooth

My crowning glory shuffled off

Granted strand by strand

The colour left quite early

Though Boots* now lends a hand.

Eyesight, gait, fecundity

Approached the pearly gates,

One knee went through and now one more

Has gone to join its mates,

The dopamine’s depleting fast,

There’s still a way to go

Before my wits have joined them,

Please Lord let that be slow.

So what will be the next thing,

There’s not a great deal left,

Without my sense of humour,

I guess I’d be bereft,

I think the pace should slow now

In comfort let me be

Until I join the rest of me

Already in eternity.

Sandra Falconer 2020

*Other suppliers of hair dye are available