poem: ‘I am a fighter’

she tells the doctors,
nurses, and therapist,
anyone listening,
after the stroke

a fighter
from the very beginning,
the next to youngest,
in a family of ten siblings

gathering eggs from the coop,
eating tomatoes from the vine,
caring for her farm pets,
helping daddy with the cows

driving the Ford tricycle tractor
in the farm fields
as a young teen
in her pinafore dress

then at fourteen, open spine surgery
for scoliosis (the scars still visible)
and a long stay in a rehab facility
and a year in a body cast

she returned to high school
becoming a cheerleader
ready for any challenge
life might throw at her

the country girl coming
to the big city for college
leaving after the first year
beginning a forty-eight year career

many a night she danced away,
so full of energy,
at the local music venue,
admirers looking on

married at age twenty seven,
nursing their premie to life,
rising up her career ladder,
helping raise two granddaughters

she meets evey challenge
in the second half of life:
loss, illness, change, isolation
declaring ‘I am a fighter’

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
August 14, 2021

photo: family archive

Author’s note: An ode to my wife,
following her stroke from which
she is recovering nicely and with
great determination