aging · elderly · family · Life · poetry

The Bath

I ran the water
Helped her get into the tub
That was when I knew

She who had bathed me
Could no longer bathe herself
Our roles had reversed


This week’s W3 prompt: Choose one specific object or place from your childhood—a bedroom doorway, a schoolyard swing, a favorite toy, a familiar street—and write about the moment when it began to feel different: when you sensed that childhood was receding and something else had begun.

Does it count if I was in my 50’s when this happened?

Mary Cassatt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

2 thoughts on “The Bath

  1. this is tender, and a reality for many families. The reversal of roles is a burden that not many are ready to take on.

    thanks for joining in the prompt, Sally.

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