Saturday 22 March 2014

Staying Alive


The days drift on,
with nothing much achieved;
for my father, for myself,
just growing older.
These scales we’re on
weigh heavily on my side.
I give him my hours, my minutes, my seconds
and like a small child with no thought
for the parent
he takes them greedily,
his life shadow lengthening.
What if I can’t outlive him?
What then?
What if there are no more years left
to tumble free?


© Susan Jane Sims

This poem was written last Summer at a Second Light residential writing retreat in Worcestershire. The theme for the week was time.

Second Light is a network of women poets. 

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