Parrot on Her Shoulder 

 

We are old now

though we only spoke of it

in laughing tones

 

You swore you would sit

on your porch and watch

the world pass by

 

a parrot on your shoulder

We are not as peg-legged

and quirky as that

 

but strokes and bad spines

do sit there squawking away

about how we used to fly