Commitment
White hair
frames a face riddled
with effort.
The blue sea
of her hospital gown
spattered with egg
and oatmeal
archipelagos.
Her mind’s a boat
listing badly.
It’s 1964
(it’s not).
I’m her husband
(I’m not)
come
to take her home again
(never again).
She’s lived
in that house for more
than a lifetime, she says. Planted
all the roses.
I consign her
to the sea.
– Art Nahill
Art is a general physician at Auckland Hospital who emigrated to NZ from the U.S. ten years ago with his kiwi wife and two boys and now enjoys rugby, cricket, and watching American politics from afar.
