{"id":70687,"date":"2024-03-19T09:12:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T02:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alternatech.net\/?p=70687"},"modified":"2024-03-20T12:03:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T05:03:32","slug":"will-you-tie-my-shoes-when-i-grow-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/will-you-tie-my-shoes-when-i-grow-old\/","title":{"rendered":"Will You Tie My Shoes When I Grow Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will You Tie My Shoes When I Grow Old
\nYou were beautiful,
\nmy tiny child,
\nwrapped tightly in my arms,
\nclose to my heart.
\nI listened to you breathing.
\nI counted your fingers
\nand your toes.
\nHelpless,
\nyou cried out to me
\nand I loved you
\nwith every ounce of my soul.\n

Will you hear me
\nwhen I cry out?
\nWill you hold me close
\nas I held you then?\n

I remember the day
\nYou took your first step.
\nThere was no stopping you.
\nYour feet gave you freedom
\nto explore the world
\nlike never before
\nbut danger lurked.
\nI opened those doors anyway,
\ncautiously,
\nand introduced
\nyou to the world.
\nWhere will you be
\nwhen my legs
\nno longer run?
\nno longer work?
\nWill you realize
\nthat I love
\nfreedom too?\n

I laugh
\nabout that day
\nyou first tied your shoe.
\nWe tried and tried
\nto get that rabbit
\nin that hole
\nand you finally did it.
\nYou pointed your toes
\nfor everyone to see
\nhow proud you were.\n

I am proud too,
\nof my writing
\nand my drawing,
\nof my needlework
\nand my cooking.
\nBut my hands are beginning to ache
\nand my fingers will not bend.
\nI will lose the things
\nthat make me proud
\nexcept for you.
\nHopefully not you.
\nWill you let me
\nbrag on you?
\nEven tell wild stories
\nthat are a bit beyond the truth?
\nWill you be proud of me too?\n

I waved good-bye
\nthat morning when you left
\non that large, yellow bus.
\nI was so scared.
\nI know you were too.
\nYou waved at me bravely
\nthrough the dusty window
\nbut I saw the water
\nforming in your eyes.
\nYou came home, however,
\nfull of pride and joy.
\nYou sang the alphabet song
\nand got most of it right.
\nYou practiced for hours
\nuntil you could sing it
\neven in your sleep.\n

But
\nI’m afraid.
\nI forgot
\nwhether I took
\nmy pills today or not.
\nI forgot
\nif I told this story before.
\nI even forgot once
\nwho you were
\nand it terrified me.
\nMy mind
\nis my treasure
\nthe only thing I have left,
\nand I heard you make
\nfun of me
\nfor not remembering
\nthat I gave you the
\nsame gift as last year.
\nWill you love me
\nwhen I no longer
\nknow who I am?\n

You came home blushing
\nfrom the glow of
\nyour first kiss.
\nYour first love,
\nthe one you thought was real.
\nYou talked about him non-stop.
\nYou changed for him. You gave.
\nBut he left you anyway
\nfor a blue-eyed girl
\nand I held you
\nwhile you cried for him.\n

I too have a
\nbroken heart.
\nThe love of my life
\nleft me after
\nfifty-six years.
\nHe left me here
\nto live life on my own
\nwhile he moved on
\nto another realm
\nAnd I cry for him too.
\nI long for his shoulder
\nand strong embrace.
\nI feel betrayed
\nbecause he and I
\nmade a deal
\nthat we would never
\nleave the other alone.
\nYet I am alone
\nsitting in an echoing house
\nwith no hands to hold.\n

You welcomed her home today-
\nyour tiny baby girl.
\nShe has your eyes
\nand possibly your toes.
\nI see you counting them
\nas they roll me
\ninto the room.
\nYou finally came
\nto visit.
\nIt has been a while.\n

You look up at me
\nwith tears in your eyes
\nand ask
\nalmost desperately,\n

“Will she tie my
\nshoes
\nwhen I get old? “\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will You Tie My Shoes When I Grow Old You were beautiful, my tiny child, wrapped tightly in my arms, close to my heart. I listened to you breathing. I counted your fingers and your toes. Helpless, you cried out to me and I loved you with every ounce of my soul. Will you hear\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":70688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"You were beautiful, my tiny child, wrapped tightly in my arms, close to my heart. I listened to you breathing. I counted your fingers...","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-70687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Will-You-Tie-My-Shoes-When-I-Grow-Old.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}