Your hug is huge <br />unlike the rest of you – <br />which is rather small. <br /> <br />You loved to run as a kid. <br />Told us about ‘that race’ <br />when the big six footer beat you by a hair <br />and the whole family cheered <br />‘Best bloody footrace we ever saw.’ <br /> <br />I stroke your hair <br />(still auburn thick at fifty seven) <br />and listen to your eyes <br />as they try to hide. <br /> <br />Your voice <br />slurs just a little <br />‘You’d never know’ <br />and your long fingers <br />(apologetic somehow) <br />hardly shake at all. <br /> <br />‘You look so fit’ <br />they all told you at the party. <br />But you don’t, do you? <br />Not a bit. <br /> <br />Off tomorrow <br />back to Queensland. <br /> <br />Sad about the guitar.<br /><br />Alison Cassidy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bloody-parkinson-s/
