The Handsome New Nurse

No, I did not notice

How attractive

The new nurse was

I told Liz

When she brought it up

That I was married

For forty-eight years

And after forty-eight years
I am not interested

In looking at men

A third my age

No matter how good

Their rear end looks

In a nice pair of pants

All Liz wants to talk about

Is that new nurse

And that’s fine for her

Because she didn’t even like

Her husband all that much

But I liked mine

Quite a bit

Not because he was handsome

Because he wasn’t

But because he understood

What not to say

If he didn’t want

To tick me off

And that was as happy

As I was going to get

With anybody

You should see the way

Everybody behaves

Around the new nurse

He’ll walk down the hallway

And you’ll hear the canes

And the walkers

All moving towards the doors

So they can get a look at him

He seems like a perfectly fine

Young man

But if you want the truth of it

I think he enjoys the attention

And I have a problem with people

Who enjoy attention

It might be because

When I was younger

My sister went into show business

And two years later

She was back living with me

And that’s where she stayed

Until she died

And it put a real rift

In between my husband and me

And the way I saw it

It was all because

She enjoyed attention

I think about attention

The same way I think

About money

If you got it, good for you

But it’s none of your business

How it happened

And you certainly shouldn’t
Work at it

Or enjoy it

When so many people die

Without getting a sliver

Of attention

That’s how I plan on dying

The thought of anybody

Making a fuss

About me going

Just fills me

With embarrassment

I already laid out

The details

For my services

But I’m worried

There’ll still be a lot of

Hemming and hawing

And crying

And all that

And there’s nothing

I can do about it

The handsome new nurse

Asked me

What I was doing

In a place like this

Because I look so young

And agile

If I didn’t know better

I would have thought

He was flirting

But I do know better

So I know

It was just him

Trying to sweeten me up

So I’d go

To morning calisthenics

But I went anyway

Because he’s just trying

To do his job

And he did offer

To escort me

Down the hall

While I would love to tell you

That I didn’t get a kick

Out of walking by all those rooms

With the canes and the walkers

Standing in the doorway

Attached to their

Very jealous owners

I have to admit

That it did give me

A little thrill

At my age

A little thrill

Goes a long way