—Photo Follow Me by Ruth Douillette

The Same Path
Ruth Douillette

You were here where I am now.
You are there where I'm going.
You walked where I now place my feet.

In thirty years, will I be sitting where you sit?
Stroking the cat. Watching television.
Waiting for the phone to ring.
Missing the man I married.

Will I share meals with people I see more often than family?

I march forward. You hobble on.
I fear I will pass you as you stop to rest
in the familiar comfort of people and places that no longer exist.

Then who will I follow?

In thirty years will I be sitting where you sit?
Stroking the cat. Staring out the window.
Waiting for time to pass.

Will someone bring me my pills and dress me?

I turn back.
There's a door.
But though I pound,
it remains sealed by time.

I'm on a one-way street.

In thirty years will I be sitting where you sit?
Will I nap in a chair before noon?

I look over my shoulder.
A young woman strides confidently toward me.
She smiles, long hair blowing behind her.
She reaches for my hand.

Slow down, I want to say.
But I know she won't.
She can't.
She walks the same path.

In thirty years will she be sitting where I sit?
In a nursing home, holding her mother's hand?

CP

Ruth Douillette is a freelance writer and photographer. She's an associate editor at the Internet Review of Books and blogs at Upstream and Down.