Abject Grief

Grieving complete with accusations

of suboptimal care for the

elderly. Not an instance of

familial elder-abuse in the usual

sense, however ... rather a family

decision to farm out care

for a beloved senior

someone's father

someone's grandmother

for this is an era when the aged

dread the inevitable. Not in

this instance only the inevitability

of growing old and infirm

but the family council's decision

that none among them has the

time and empathy to spare

to invite a beloved father or mother

or both to live among them directly

in the family home for there are so

many distractions in life calling

for attention and aspirations to be fulfilled

let alone duties to one another and one's

offspring, there is no room nor

patience to spare offering a respite

to white hair and curved spine.

There is huge profit to be gained

by entrepreneurs offering TLC

by ill-paid attendants trained to

empathize with family and proffer

necessities to the vulnerable aged

in this new era of loving neglect

when the responsibility of infectious

death can be laid at the doorstep of 

care homes, bereaved families beating

their breasts with outrage that their

dearly beloveds' needs were failed by

others ... their trust betrayed 

just as they betrayed their elders'.