David Nelson Bradsher - Primary Care

She rises painfully—without complaint—
haloed by silver-white in feathered hair,
and she assists her husband from his chair,
dragging her shadow like a burdened saint.

She wears the mantle, stooped in silhouette,
of one diminishing by sacrifice,
when giving care becomes her sole device
to pay the interest of a crippling debt.

David Nelson Bradsher

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/primary-care/