Ice Pack
Downstairs at 3 AM with frozen French Fries
stuffed down the back of my jammies and
tightly pressed between chair back and spine.
Yesterday, when the pains in my lower back
ran rampant and I was too stiff to bend,
I lay on my back in bed, begging you for help.
Seventy-two hours flat on my back with my feet
on a chair did nothing to improve my temper.
I thought of my mother lying hopeless,
of my father being dressed, washed, shaved,
cared for as if his return to a second child-
hood was accompanied by a necessary
humiliation, a lowering of every inhibition
that gives a man his manhood and allows him
a minimum of dignity. Lying there, helpless,
my feet stretched out before me, I saw my
future as if it were an endless pack of ice
barring the horizon, groaning when I moved.
I must learn to lean on the closest shoulder.
This is really love, my love, your gentle hands
pulling sock over foot and ankle, lacing my shoes,
standing by my side, letting me lean on your arm,
refusing to discard me in my time of trouble.
rogermoorepoet 
Lovely poem.image-“i thought my mother…….necesssry.some tragic touch..m i right -dear sir
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Real love in action…
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Indeed it is … and it’s so easy to forget each small, daily act that builds a cottage into a house and a house into a Royal Palace. Women shape these building bricks, polish them, and with them construct the family home. It is so easy to forget the role each woman plays in building and maintaining and cherishing that family structure. We do so at our peril.
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Beautiful thoughts, Roger. I wish more people shared them.
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Oh dear! Roger tell me it wasn’t this bad! But you are right that Is love – doing those small things for one another when we are unable to do them for ourselves. Bravo.
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It was 25 years or more ago. The result of a car accident and then playing and coaching rugby. It still bothers me. Flares up every so often. But not too bad.
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Well, a bad back was what led me to becoming a chiropractor. I was a patient first so I can sympathize!
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I have seen several chiropractors in my career as a rugby player and coach. They have held a couple of my teams together, sinew by sinew.
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