The Nurse

The lift they called it.
She in the white sweater
slid a blue nylon pad
beneath his 68 year frame.
His shamed eyes looked to me.
strapping this hook to that
and this loop around here,
they cranked a lever
til he sank, cradled into place
like a stork, like a baby
she swung him to the air
above his wheelchair
and placed a blanket
on his lap, on his thighs
but never over knees and legs.
On the red blanket,
a woman with dyed red hair
had embroidered
“freedom isn’t free.”