At the End of the Road

I visit them

A place they now call home.

It isn’t a mansion on a hill top,

Just a dwelling at the end of their road.

Surrounded by people

But none are family or friend.

I watch as they move methodically

Along colorless hallways.

Without destinations they go.

Boundaries contain them like caged animals.

They’re at the end of their road.

If you see a smile upon their face,

You can assume they’ve departed into another space.

A cry of desperation

Often escapes their soul.

When they realize they’re at the end of their road.

God I’d like to be an angel

And take them swiftly to their heavenly home.

Instead, I leave them

In this place at the end of their road.

Hoping my visit will lighten their load.

________________________

Born in Durham County, North Carolina, Elaine Jones is an Army spouse, Army mother and Army & Marine Corps grandmother who enjoyed careers in nursing and education before retiring.  

Her first career was as a neonatal nurse at Duke University Hospital. She left the nursing profession and became an Army spouse, raising a family and supporting her husband’s military career.  She later became interested in education and served as a teacher’s aide, then as an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructor for Alamance Community College. 

Active in community service, Elaine has organized efforts to build mobility aids for the disabled, and volunteered to help local hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and community centers. She loves to bring smiles to the faces of hospital patients, children and assisted living residents portraying her alter ego, a clown named “Miss Dipity Dolittle.”

Elaine enjoys writing and published Granny’s Legacy: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems as well as featured articles and poems in Good Old Day’s Magazine, The Havok Journal and The Epoch Times, Battlefields. 

Elaine’s hobbies include writing, reading, painting and crocheting. She donates some of her crocheted items to support local charities including Ricky’s Retreat, a safe spot for struggling young adults and teens. 

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.