I can't take it in.
This broken man is my father.
But yesterday,
--It was only yesterday!--
He was healthy.


I cannot,
I do not want to believe it.


But, no!
He can laugh.
He can smile.
He can make a joke.
He can still see that I am upset and want to help me!
He still wants to help me.


My mother?
She can just walk.
I cannot help her.
The pain in her leg doesn't go away.


And I know what I remember,
that I cannot now say,
how she loved her children,
---to say it the easy way---
no, there is a better way to say it:
that she gave herself, completely, and without holding back,
freely,
with love,
all the love she had,
and she has not stopped even today 
when everything has become so difficult. 


And nothing I can ever do will be enough.
There aren't enough words to say:
it is cruel,
and it is frightening.....
That their lives should be ending in this way,
with pain and fear,
frustration:
Old age is a punishment that no one deserves.