I Danced~

This Garrison Keillor selection from his Writers' Almanac today brought me to tears, so I must share it:



From Garrison Keillor's Writers' Almanac today:
Poem: "Meadowbrook Nursing Home" by Alice N. Persons, from Don't Be A Stranger. © Sheltering Pines Press, 2007. Reprinted with permission.

Meadowbrook Nursing Home



On our last visit, when Lucy was fifteen

And getting creaky herself,

One of the nurses said to me,

"Why don't you take the cat to Mrs. Harris' room—

poor thing lost her leg to diabetes last fall

—she's ninety, and blind, and no one comes to see her."


The door was open. I asked the tiny woman in the bed

if she would like me to bring Lucy in,

and she turned her head toward us.

"Oh, yes, I want to touch her."

"I had a cat called Lily — she was so pretty, all white.

She was with me for twenty years, after my husband died too.

She slept with me every night — I loved her very much.

It's hard, in here, since I can't get around."

Lucy was settling in on the bed.

"You won't believe it, but I used to love to dance.

I was a fool for it! I even won contests.

I wish I had danced more.

It's funny, what you miss when everything.....is gone."

This last was a murmur. She'd fallen asleep.


I lifted the cat from the bed, tiptoed out, and drove home.

I tried to do some desk work but couldn't focus.


I went downstairs, pulled the shades, put on Tina Turner

and cranked it up loud

and I danced.

I danced.