An angel spoke to me one night
when I sat in my youth
he told me I should be aware
of one unerring truth:
That like or not the time will come
when I will need a hand
to guide me through my daily life
– not quite what I had planned.
He bade me think, this angel fair
of loving volunteers
and low paid carers struggling
to tend my ageing years.
What will I want when I am old?
An elephant that rages
because we locked the cupboard door
and wouldn’t pay her wages?
Am I so sure I will not yearn
for love’s sustaining patience
when I am old and on my own
with similar relations?
Why do we lend so little heed
to those who hold our future?
For I’ll receive what I beget –
if I forget to nurture.
“So pay the carers what you will,”
the angel said, “be certain
that you will want the gentlest hand
to close your final curtain.
aplaceforpoetry 
I can only hope that our sons remember the care we offered their grandmother (my MIL) in her later years. That they too will treat us with respect that our ages should deserve.
And even the care that we extended as best we could to the relative who chose not to move close. Everyone makes choices they then have to live with.
Thanks for stopping by – best to you, hugs, Jules
I see the sentiments, Jules/Julia. However, I’m going to be contentious here. My mum made it absolutely clear that we four children were not beholden to her. Having us was her choice, not ours, so the responsibility stopped there. As it happened she was a dogged individual who dies (early) at home, but she refused to have us care for her in any sense but the emotional one.
If the writer was the reader, she would suggest that appropriate care and support are a social responsibility beyond immediate family.
Quite so Julia.
Which is not always the case…My step mom says the same thing, but she really would rather have a swarm of bees (us) all around. But because of her choice to not live close all she can do is complain. And that gets old quick.
I kind of like it now that our sons are older, independent and we can actually talk to them and we who were once seen as kings and queens, and then as court jesters are actually seen as humans now.
Best to you. I’ve been busy with my grands (two now). Hope all is well with you 🙂
Precisely that, Julia