let's grow old together

she is only fifty,
but over coffee, on
our first date
she tells me that
she'd like to find
someone to grow old
with. someone who
loves her, and she
in return will love
him back. someone to
share the sunrises,
the sunsets, someone
who will push her
in a wheel chair
when her legs no
longer work and will
change her bed pan
when she can't get
up to go. someone
who will rub lotion
on her back where the
sores are from lying
there so long. clip
the long hard nails on
her blue feet. she'd
like to find someone
who will arrange her
doctor visits, line
up her pill bottles
on the shelf, someone
who will make her
soup and spoon it
to her while she
lies there with her
cats in her lap,
and smiles, with her
teeth out, knowing that
she is loved. she says
a lot more, but i
can't hear the rest
of it because i am
running down the street
as quickly as i
know how.