Christina's Courage - A Disability Poem by Richard M. Deets

Author: Richard M. Deets
Published: 2012/03/15 - Updated: 2024/03/08
Publication Type: Poem / Poetry
Category Topic: Disability Poems, Poetry and Prose - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Christinas Courage by Richard M. Deets is a piece of poetry relating to disability. We were in Chadds Ford and talked of Wyeth art, Timeless as Brandywine Valley landscapes...

Introduction

Main Content

Christina's Courage

We were in Chadds Ford and talked of Wyeth art,

Timeless as Brandywine Valley landscapes.

We weighed the mystery of Christina's courage

Rising above the crippling curse of polio, as

Mid-March chills encroached upon the evening hour.

Then the wind battered shutters and bent

Daffodils and chickweed, and rain

Splashed the riverward windows. We romanticized ourselves

Children bicycling winding country roads over rolling hills

Dropping into sleepy valleys, and your flaming auburn

Hair was always beyond reach.

Suddenly rain showers slowed to a quiet

Drizzle; for a moment, the only sound we

Heard was the cardinal striking the steel casement window.

I stood in the doorway drying forearm crutches, and turned

To see you drooping in your wheelchair, staring down

Stainless braces stacked in night shadows

As if searching for the child

Paralysis free, no longer there.

I watched as a tear

Rounded your pale cheek and fell.

And what of the spring day

Remained - a Norfolk Southern freight whistle faded

Northward and the courage of Christina,

Which we had discussed, appeared out of reach in the rain.

- Richard M. Deets