Old And Wise

OLD AND WISE                              

                                   

To turn into an ancestor

While still alive, to become a shrine

Of wormy wood and joss-stick ash:

It could happen any time now. Your grip

Loosens and the pitons go

And you slither down into the blue-green gulf

Where all your dreams become posthumous.

Aged Parents Are Like Little Kids

Ailz has bought her parents a new phone. Now they've got two. One each.  So if Dad is alone in the garden and falls and can't get up or Mom goes for a walk and ends up on a street she doesn't recognise- both things that have happened recently- there'll be no excuse for them not summoning help.

Will they do as they've been told and take a phone with them everywhere?

What do you think?

We've given my mother similar instructions. When we remind her about them she goes, "pish tush" and changes the subject.