Wheelchair

How is your life
You ok?
You really ok?
I’ve been pretty stressed, actually

but

Something funny happened whilst having a beer with
Starlight
by my side
beside a road

Striving to find where I can
thrive
not survive
not just be alive

Yearning for a place which
for me
is somewhere I can
grow

A fella rolls by in his wheelchair
And he stares at us
His support worker
Abashed and flustered and

thus

He told us how he’s done
triathlons
Seeing the look of confusion on my face and I ask
‘With the chair?’

NO!

Says he. He says,
‘It’s called
cerebro-spinal disease’
(as I recall)

I recoiled in horror
inside
at this man
now trapped inside his failing body full of pain

‘I hate being stuck in this chair!’

Admiration and sympathy
I just want to hold him
I want to strap his legs, arms and body to mine
And take him for a run, a swim!

He told me and my mate that our names are silly.

His care worker rolled him off
so he could have coffee
with his other worker
at the cafe in Yandina.

My life is…
heaven
compared to him.
I really have such little to complain about.