Seen in the Day Room at Senior Manor
An old woman in a wheelchair basks in the sun
shine streaming from the west window, like a cat
luxuriating in sunbeams. You have seen cats
lounging in sluiced sunlight, wallowing in
the warm interlude created, gazing
Buddah-like into the sun's center. They rouse
for a moment, stretch, then pull their tail
around their body, gather
themselves into a neater circle and continue
their salutations to the Sun Gods.
Such is the way this woman savors
the sun's warmth, indulging in the glory
of sunlight. Momentarily, she stretches and yawns,
flexes her long arms and fingers, then pulling
her shawl more tightly around her shoulders,
she settles back down, fixing
her gaze to peer with half-shut
eyes into the afternoon's blaze.
By Annette Gagliardi
Published in Pasque Petals, Spring 2022, South Dakota State Poetry Society.