Nursing Home Comforts

Nursing Home Comforts Nursing Home comforts, this is your chair; But it doesn’t matter, you can sit anywhere. From here see the gardens, so green and alive; Cold? But we keep the heat turned up inside! You might hear a buzzer calling a nurse, Nothing to worry about, it could be worse! You get tablets at teatime, a tranq or an upper, Someone will bring you a blanket at supper. There’s always piped music, an organ I think, And you get sleeping tablets with something to drink. Nursing Home comforts, he sits in his chair; His body is present but his mind is elsewhere. In a field full of daisies - young and alive, With a woman he loved, again by his side. He remembers her face and the curve of her brow, And he wishes that she could be with him now. How they danced in the ballroom to the big band song, She was lithe and so supple, he was handsome and strong. Gliding on air in a time that has gone, But in the mans’ mind, the big band plays on. Nurse brings him his tea and two of his pills, Despite what they tell him he doesn’t feel ill. He’s a little bit slower and not so alert, But his memories and feelings somehow ease the hurt. He remembers her face and the arch of her back And the way she clung to him through an air raid attack. How they huddled together in pouring cold rain Through the doors of the shelter, watching the plane. Bombs filled the air in a conflict long gone, But in the mans’ mind the war carries on. Volunteer brings his supper and a rug to ease cold, He muses that things change as you get old. He’s still got his dignity, but walks with a stick, And can see the clock hands, though he can’t hear the tick. He remembers her legs and the brown of her tan, And the way that she lay on the clean, golden sand. How they kissed on a carousel spinning around To the steam driven organs’ happy go sound. Carousels spinning in a fairground long gone, But in the mans’ mind, the horses prance on. Night Nurse takes him to room and puts him to bed, A sleeping pill pushes the mist through his head, He closes his eyes on the world and its warts, And drifts off to sleep with his memories and thoughts. He remembers her parting and he feels her pain, And wishes that he could be with her again. They tried to revive him with their machines and their pills - “He shouldn’t be dying - he wasn’t that ill!” A sad shake of the head, and the man’s life is done. He’s back with his sweetheart, and back to the fun.