flat out

Fresh from her bike ride,
grey-haired, she stretched
her black leather gloves.
She dealt with each finger
in turn then blew in them
- little balloons of hands.
Smoothed them flat. Put
them in her desk drawer.
A few years later she was
dead - heart failure, they
said. And sure wasn't she
a gentle soul. When you
think of all the children
who went through her hands.