Batman next door

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 29, 2000 by Marjorie Kowalski Cole

   The old woman in her pink long johns
   and red flannel nightshirt
   put trembling hand on the bed,
   pushed herself uptight,
   swung her pink-clad, stick-like
   legs over the edge and looked
   at Batman. The sturdy caped figure,
   hair in damp spikes from his bath,
   repeated his question.
   Want your light off, Gram?
   Fragile, barely there, she smiled
   with a fully vigorous astonishment.
   I knew then she would be safe
   all through the night,
   with Batman in the next room.

--Marjorie Kowalski Cole Ester, Alaska