SUNRISE WAY: A poem

By Sharon Flitterman-King
       
-- for Davis Flitterman

Palm trees line the street

  beyond the driveway

where we sit

you, my father

wheeled into the sunshine

by these hands

the hands that write

  this poem

Plaid blanket

  on your knees

soft calfskin slippers

on the feet that slip

  off metal footrests

Your hands are folded

  quietly

a thinking posture

  for these hands

these fingers that I touch

I kneel beside you

  holding on holding on

Mid-sentence you look past

  my eyes and say

  pointing to my hair

You have some white

  a silver strand

  behind my ear

So do you, I laugh

A secret that we share

  this growing old

  this love

Sharon Flitterman-King, who holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley, is the author of  "A Secret Star."  She lives in Hillsdale, New York with her husband, David King.