I keep wondering what meal
is gonna be your last,Dad.,
Today it's cauliflower cheese,
Susie's special with broccoli and egg,
soya milk, herbs.
I've boiled and melted, stirred
and baked while you, tipped back
in your big old chair, slept, open mouthed
brown blanket keeping in warmth
The dish is out of the oven now
bubbling like a living thing
in its white ceramic shell,
and I know that if this meal's
the last you have
you'll suck your lips,
tell St Peter it was good.
© Susan Jane Sims
