November Sabbath

This entry is part 5 of 15 in the series Ridge and Valley: an exchange of poems

 

Villagers attending church, by Walter Sanders
Villagers attending church, by Walter Sanders

 

Dear Dave,

Lamar sits in his wheelchair
at the back of the church: Parkinson’s

propped in his lap like a toddler, bad baby
who crawls on this old man’s chest, pulls

his tired white head to the side
and whispers in his ear about lungs

falling in on themselves. Our minister reads
the words of the Psalmist, who assures us

about the place of the righteous and the wicked.
Lamar’s labored breathing lingers, rests

like a shawl on the shoulders of those of us
who sit in the next to last row. We can’t help

but wonder where the breath of God is, and why
a good man is treated so wickedly.

Todd Davis

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8 Replies to “November Sabbath”

  1. Thanks for the positive comments. This was a tough poem to work on. Lamar was a very good man whose life came quietly to a close because of the disease–from vibrancy to a shell that locked all his thoughts behind his eyes.

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