The New Shoulder

I saw you that afternoon
for the first time since the operation.
Your frailness hit me,
hard,
in the face.
I have never seen you that way,
not before, not after
and I doubt that I ever will again.

For the first time I realised
how damaged you are,
how little of you is original.
The latest models in shoulders -
We talk of joints and bones
like car parts - we can always get another.

How badly it must have hurt
that first occasion,
the first of many operations and ailments.
Did arthritis surprise you afterwards?
Did the bunions sting the same way?
Did you cry at the first grey hair or
the first tangible wrinkle?

Nothing compares to that day
you lost your womb in 1968.