Waking, you swivel on bum and hip, then drop
your legs below the knee to the floor, the fight
against gravity half-won, like a workshop
using prefabricated parts, the bed’s height
helping. None of this lessens the jeopardy.
When you thrust yourself up onto your feet,
you need to balance your whole body adroitly.
If there’s a handrail to take some of your weight,
use it – not only for push but to steady
yourself. Press your panic button to call,
if you panic, whoever is standing by.
Whatever their struggles, anyone may
drift off in sleep. But some just die, then fall;
and more, like my dear father, fall, then die.
