My Father’s Amputation on Tuesday

How long can a foot
last when it’s been

short
two sizes from the start?

A birth defect
makes such a long effect—

Spastic muscles
impede aim,

each step a challenge
to keep in balance.

Two times the shoes
equal a pair.

At eighty-four years,
seventeen days,

the heat of infection
has chilled too low.

Death is rising
from collapsed veins.

A cut above the knee
will end the foot

to lengthen the life
it’s carried so far.

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2 thoughts on “My Father’s Amputation on Tuesday”

  1. I agree. David Stone is brilliant. 🙂 This poem is poignant without being overly sentimental.

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