I wrote this Valentine poem in remembrance of the most memorable valentine I had ever gotten. This special valentine was given to me by one of my patients when I worked at a Children’s Hospital as a Physical Therapist. I hope you enjoy it.
A Special Valentine
By Marie Staight
Her name was Kate.
She was eight.
Post op Brain tumor,
What a bumm-or.
Herky- jerky movements,
Needed improvements.
Arms and legs shot out in all directions
Coordination was full of misdirections.
“Physical Therapy for gait training”, it said
The first time we met at her bed.
Patience it took to find the remedies,
To calm those extremities.
With a walker, we forged our way down the hall.
We left scars on the wall
A dance of feet so ugly,
And ungainly it was truly funky.
Twice a day we practiced the strange march
Until she was able to straighten out the arch.
In the hospital halls and PT’s gyms
She relearned how to straighten her limbs.
Home she went to practice how to start again
And came as an out-patient to my den.
Slowly the control improved
Until she really grooved.
I challenged her with obstacle courses,
Of steps, and ramps and hobby horses,
Of soft surfaces and sticky ones.
We did for many reruns.
It was the way to retrain her brain
So she could, her balance, sustain.
The final challenge was quite a scheme
To walk across a balance beam.
Step one, fall off. Remount.
So many times I lost count.
Step one, then two, but down she’d go.
One day, she did the whole, toe-to-toe!
On Valentine’s Day, she came
With card in hand to proclaim
How her humor was askew
She proudly handed it for me to view.
The card was decorated with a balance beam
To conquer it was her dream
It said, “Valentine, I lost my Balance over you”.
We laughed and both knew that it was true.
That precious Valentine is burned in my memory
As the most special of all that’s true and tender be.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Kate!
Wherever you may be – walking tall and straight.
How about you? Have a special Valentine’s memory about which you can write a poem? Please share with us by putting it in the comments below.
Chasing The Tale 