Her toast sits untouched

Pills not taken

Orange juice glass on the counter

Where they remain during the day

And the next

And the one after that

Toast, pills, and glass untouched
Not mentioned

By their daughter when she visits

To help

To talk

To assess

To clean the counter

To return her mother’s glass

To replace her pills in their containers

To leave her toast for the remaining birds

To take her father to visit his wife scattered by the river.

– Thomas Elson