Halfway To Heaven

A mother and son, age and illness

For many years now this her place,
a tightrope walked unsteadily between life and death.
Stooped by both age and illness she sees no way forward,
planning no further than the next meal,
her life lived ever in the now.
This existence she only ever briefly escapes
with turned pages and dreams revealing what could could been,
had she not had 2 failed marriages, 9 kids, many jobs,
and many, many, more lonely nights.
On good days her mind, wit, has her tongue running humorous rings around us,
on bad, she falters, trips on words, forgets, "What was I saying.."
We drink tea, I get the latest death count,
"He/she was only," and then an age applied.
At her lowest, when most ill, I asked what gives her the strength to carry on,
if she was afraid of dying, she laughed.
"I'm not afraid of death, I fear only what I'll miss when dead, I'm to nosy to die"
And so she carries on, precariously balanced, halfway to heaven,
with me prepared,
stood down,
prepared,
stood down,
but never really ready.

Author's Note

At the time of writing this mum was on the up from yet another illness. Sadly mum passed away on 09/04/2019

Reviews

[Neville]

I hope that I would have eventually stumbled upon these very fine words, all by myself... a most relateable poem Gee.. reminds me of when I used to visit elderly loved ones.. it seems they were obsessed with the obituary column... although not quite there myself yet, I notice that my Christmas card list is getting shorter every year... take care my friend and Seasons Best to you lot in MK :)

[Gee]

Cheers Neville, mum was 82 years young Tuesday, is still hanging in there.
Seasons best to you all and a big hug for the good lady wife.
Cheers

[Neville]

Cheers mate.. my pleasure and give ya ma a hug and say its from Somerset will ya..

[Gee]

Will do, you're a good man :)

[Neville]

get outa here:)

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Gee... it does make sense... I am bright as a Pebble in the moonlight. I follow politics to a T... admire the way the late President H.W. Bush was diplomatic... May he Rest In Peace.
Yes, it is the best of times to remember. truly, Pat

[Gee]

Thank you for taking the time to both read and comment Patricia.

[Cherrie Palmer]

Half way to Heaven with Heaven stooping its head to meet her.
I've walked the road with many a loved one you express it beautifully.

[Gee]

Thank you. Touch wood, at present mum is as well as she's been for years.

[Maxwell Ryder]

never understand why it's called a failed marriage. maybe it's "till we want to part, and not death do us"? Sorry, not to be taken as a critique.

[Gee]

Hi Maxwell, hope all is well in your world.

[Papaya]

you do such a wonderful job with painting characters

[Gee]

Thank you, tis me and mum. By rights she should have popped her clogs many moons ago but she's a tough old bird and having brought 9 of us up single handedly, a person I have the utmost respect and love for. However, took her for laser surgery on her eye this week, left her in the hospital, returned two hours later to collect and she had peed herself, and quite happily announced this , very loudly, when I arrived to collect her. Then had to drive her home, her sitting on my jacket, the car stank of pee, but all she was worried about was getting some KFC as she had missed lunch. This brought, she sat hunched over, scoffing chips, still stinking, looking every bit like king louie from the jungle book. Once back in her flat I had to practically wrestle the chicken from her and shoe horn her into a shower to strains of... " can't I eat my chicken first"
Guess she's getting her own back.
Thank you, hope you are well

[Papaya]

:) she's earned the right to eat her chicken first.
i'm totally taking her side on that (:

[Onlyme]

What a moving poem. About life and living and want to rest also from it all. Touching and emotional as well as witty.

[Gee]

Thanks Dawn, is actually me and my old mum :))

[Arthur Henn]

I like this. God don't want me yet. Every morning I wake up. "God, I'm still alive" I whisper... Guess I'm not ready for your kingdom, just yet.

[Gee]

Life in the ol' dog yet, eh?
Thanks again Arthur

[Alexa Apothic Red]

Oh, this is so tender, clever and humorous at the same time.. I love the part about the latest death count (reminded me a bit of Monty Python), and then about her being too nosy to die! That’s so cute! I love it!

[Gee]

I'm glad you enjoyed. Thank you

[Chris Shaw]

I relate to this write very much. My mum is in a nursing home and is neither here, not there. She is an inbetweener. Her good days are few and many are upsetting, and I are wonder as does the rest of our family how she manages to keep going. It is heartbreaking, she is a shell of her former vibrant self. When her time comes, we won't be ready. We will never be ready. Your poem brought her right back into my sitting room this evening. A poignant write.

[Gee]

Good morning Christine. It is so, so sad to see the gradual decline of both the health and mental awareness of the person held closest to our hearts.
Again, thank you for both reading and commenting. Have a good day

[Unspoken poet]

I kinda can relate to this here and there. I am glad I had a chance to read this. This is so deep and personal it feels like. Awesome

[Gee]

Very personal but often this type of writing, because of this, is the easiest to pen. Thank you fir taking the time to read and comment