Helplessness Revisited Poem by Lone Dog

Yesterday, I visited a nursing home
Where the helpless, aged and frail,
Are dressed and washed and fed
Just as they were when babies.
I saw no joy in the faces
Of those inmates, but, instead,
Sadness, loneliness and despair.
They would not venture outside the walls again.
As they sat slumped over and motionless
In their wheelchairs,
An emptiness in their gaze revealed minds
Already in some far off world.
They have lingered on beyond their time;
Forced to prolong their agony
By barely functioning but stubborn bodies.
These helpless souls;
Helpless when they were born
And now, helpless again.