Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Patricia Behrens is a poet from New York City. She writes movingly of the experience of caring for an ill spouse. Here is her poem "Normal."
Walking up 83rd from Columbus Avenue
we pretend we are climbing Everest --
the restaurant on the corner
is base camp; the first brownstone
halfway up the street, camp one;
the taller one further on, camp two.
Once past the synagogue, we are
on the final summit push.
The we of this, of course,
is partly pretend, too --
I'm the climbing guide; but you,
the climber, are doing all the work.
You, the unwell one, must endure, bear up;
I, the well one, must only cherish my good luck.
And this is how we live.
This is our version of normal.
And yet, and yet,
there are times I wonder
(if I'm honest, I admit it)
what would it be like to be released ?
To loosen my shoulders, free up my breath
refocus my eyes away from vigilance?
Would it be like arriving in the tropics
shedding winter clothes in sun?
Could I slip again into being just one --
just one person, someone, no one?