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That,


moment when you want
to build a
paper aeroplane
and fly away.

Today
might be that day.
night fell
too quickly today

it won't be long...
the last leaf will surrender
as the first snowflake spirals in
Ominous clouds roll in.
I hear the crack of thunder.
"Not to worry," the youngest pipes up.
"We’ve always made it home, before."

Yes, but…
For as long as I can remember,
We've only ever had
Blue skies!
Sunshine!

What a streak!
Such luck!
Now, I'm not so sure.

How can you be expected
To make it through the storm
When you’ve never
Sailed a windy day?
dad left
for his second tour of duty
on my third birthday

mom kept
a jar full of jelly beans
on the living room coffee table

every night
she gave me one to eat, saying
"when these jelly beans
are all eaten up,
dad will come back home"

sometimes
i would sneak another,
to help dad come home sooner

one night
the phone rang
and i watched mom
wipe away a tear
as she filled
the jar
back
up
On this Remembrance Day, I think of all those who have served, with a special thought for Dad.  And though she has no medals, I also think of Mom; every tour of duty Dad went through, she went through too, taking care of us on her own.

*** Edit: Thank you for all your kind words!  Due to a recent outpouring of sympathy, I feel it necessary to clear up the fact that my dad did in fact make it home from this mission; his tour had simply been extended for an additional 3 months.  Still, it isn't easy being part of a military family - and that's what I meant to show. ***
It's cold outside
and the driver's late
we're pushed into
a narrow cage
some beaten, some wounded
when they lock the gates

I hear some whining
in a stench of fear
some are brave
no rescue's near
some know, some heard before
noone here gets out alive

tonight we're fine
we stand in line
we're still alive
'cause we're too green
they start the engine
I'm the next in line

morning comes
like a hungry dog
I want to scream
but I can't breathe
they leave no witness
in the killing machine

naked and cold
wash away my blood
hang me head down
rip off my skin
cut out my bones
wrap it up in a plastic bag

still hungry?
noone here gets out alive
I got nothin.
It's sad, this aching to write and write,
But the words coming out sound so contrite.

Like that.

I stand up, stare down at my page.
I see the lines, those imaginary borders
between my stubborn head,
and my bleeding heart.

I pray that the division will have a remainder.

That forgotten piece, the inconsequential.

Because the remainder is the thing-
That space between there and here,
Where time sits in a chair,
staring at its own hands.

That no man's land where eraser crumbs
become mountains worth climbing.

Where the fairy tales of our own beginnings gather breath,
Spreading wings over the valleys of our truth.
I have tried here to create an Essay on Mother
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~with love, Sylvia FC


a Mother,
a GodMother,
a GrandMother,

the central figure in every family's life,
who has the quality of a professor,
the patience of an angel,
the power of Tarzan

the unique habit of keeping her family together as a united one,
with that special kind of love which we cannot see,
we as her kids can only feel it, smell the atmosphere of the cosy surrounds at home as we never could ever feel elsewhere...

East-West
at home with Mom is always the best!!
her cookies are the most delicious ones
we love to talk about her in superlatives
Mother a place to hide when we have fear or anxiety,
under Mother's wings is always a peaceful home-coming...

daughters love to write a great tribute to Her
as well as to Mothership

Some quotations from different sources I put down here:
First from the Bible:
"Honour thy mother and thy father" Bible: Exodus

"As is the mother, so is her daughter" Bible: Ezekiel

And now from other sources:
"So for the mother's sake the child was dear"
"And dearer was the mother for the child" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge 'Sonnet to a Friend Who Asked How I Felt When the Nurse First Presented My Infant Child to Me')

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his" (Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest)

And the last quotation is mine:
"A Mother is the most complete human-being on earth,  
the caring and loving person,
the only one to whom daughters write a greatest tribute,
the safest place to come home...
a Mother is like Home...." (Sylvia Frances Chan)



© SYLVIA FRANCES CHAN
AD. Friday 7th Nov 2014- 17.01 hrs p.m. here on this site. Saturday
7 Jan 2012- 5.01 hrs a.m. posted on Poetfreak.com
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