grace – an #improv #poem

I didn’t see her fall the first time
By the time I saw her lying there
Two other passersby had
Already stopped to give her aid
I stopped my car with a jolt
Pressed the four-way flashers
And leapt into the street

I could tell by the stress in the helpers’ voices
The first fall had been quite frightening
From a human point of view

I barely had a thought
If any I thought of how
Her plight could be the same as anyone
Struggling to stand in the sea of
Confusion,
Misdirection,
Distraction, and
Good folk stopping to help you up

In spite of our warnings that
She needed to take care
Perhaps see a doctor before
She even tried to walk again
There was nothing but calm insistence
In her voice as
She stated her purpose and intention

She was on the way to the mall
And she must get there.

To our dismay, when she tried to rise
She fell again.

There was much confusion in her words
Once the emergency team arrived
It was hard to know if she’d been in a previous accident
And whether it has been a day or a month ago

My heart kept seeking a way to reach hers
To say that in someway I am just like her
That I love her and want her to be perfectly well
I suspect that on the outside
I looked like nothing more than a bumbling
Good Samaritan
Not even able to keep her
From falling the second time

I was deeply relieved and impressed
When the paramedic convinced her
To be taken to the ER

The fact that she was headed
In the wrong direction
To make it to that destination mall
She so deeply longed to find
Was the final clincher
For all we helpers
And the dear woman
Fallen at the side of the road