Mammy knew the score
She lived till 94
She’d been a nurse
Cared for the elderly
Matron of a home
Befriended when alone
Old ladies in their beds
About to die
She had been
So energetic
So fit so full of life
Worked and walked and washed
And cooked and cleaned
Until that fall at 92
Put her in the chair
Now she would
Entrust her self
To other people’s care
Two years she lived
This patient life
Confined to room and bed
Energy gone
Independence gone
Everything now by others
Must be done
Today a message
Reaches me
About this sorrowful MND
Disease reducing people
Down to nought
We cannot do
All must be done
Disabled we become
Distressing illness
Making life so fraught
A truth emerges from all this
We are never independent
We never can do everything ourselves
Inter-dependent a better word
It gives the better truth
We need each other
Old age and in youth
Our independent worldly ways
Have led us to behave
As though we are the masters of our time
A truer reading of this life
Will help us come to see
All is gift and to be shared
Divine
Brian Fahy
22 June 2021
Erris Poetry 