Over

Pop examines his hands
turning them over
and over

turning over
her falling over
bruising her arm
on the chair
as she fell
he caught her.

He lowered her
to the floor
as gently as he could
she was heavy.

A neighbour
was it a neighbour?
phoning
the ambulance
taking her away
his daughter
his son-in-law
his grandson
arriving.

His grandson
sits with him
the others gone.
To the hospital perhaps?
Perhaps. He’s tired

‘When she comes home
I’ll have to watch her,’
he says. ‘She just fell over.
Bruised her arm.
I couldn’t lift her.’

He sits in the chair.
Examines his hands.
He has had them
86 years.