Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation
Presents the 2008 New Hampshire Senior Poet Laureate


Maren C. Tirabassi

MAREN C. TIRABASSI, 57, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a local church pastor and author of nine books for Pilgrim Press, including the caregiver's guide "Caring for Ourselves while Caring for our Elders." She was named Portsmouth Poet Laureate from 2001-2003. Her sign is Aries.

There will be no more carrots


The black rabbit lies
on the red rubber hot water bottle
next to the radiator
and the man strokes him.

There will be no more carrots,
scraps of lettuce,
no more chewing the baseboards,
grunting for fresh water,
no more lying in the sun
in the outdoor hutch.

But this winter morning, too,
is beautiful --
the old, old age,
being reminded of stretching up
to bat Christmas ornaments,
told a story about gnawed chair legs.

We all want to be stroked
and spoken to
and loved when we die.
Maren C. Tirabassi
Portsmouth, NH