Aug 2016
I saw them, those delicate cracks that cover your once red lips; I felt them as they pressed against my tiny cheeks, my eyes shut tight as I felt every rupture and the pain your lips carry, my unwrinkled skin received your kiss like a long awaited gift and then …. It was gone
I saw them, those eyes once full, they reflected everything around them, like a sponge absorbing the very essence of life, and how your eyes used to shine at me, but now as you stare at me they carry an uninhabited look about them, where have you gone?
I saw them, the convulsing of your once great hands, the same hands that cradled my infant form are now too weak to bear the weight of one’s own bones, let me hold you for a while
I hear you when you whisper to me that I am never alone, and I hold that thought forever, that is my comfort
And so here we are, your final twitch, our goodbye for now, for 48 summers you carried yourself along on this journey, should I see 49 I wish only to be half as beautiful as you
I close my eyes and you were gone, and the room was desolate with all but my love for you
The thirteenth day of June becomes a mere marker of the distance between us
And now all of these years later I sit in my own dwelling, still daydreaming of you, and within the 18 summers that have raced passed me I have borne my own offspring
And when they play as I used to, when they nestle amongst themselves and laugh, the laughter of innocence I smile and I hope wherever you are you can smile too and say “I saw them”
I saw them, those eyes once full, they reflected everything around them, like a sponge absorbing the very essence of life, and how your eyes used to shine at me, but now as you stare at me they carry an uninhabited look about them, where have you gone?
I saw them, the convulsing of your once great hands, the same hands that cradled my infant form are now too weak to bear the weight of one’s own bones, let me hold you for a while
I hear you when you whisper to me that I am never alone, and I hold that thought forever, that is my comfort
And so here we are, your final twitch, our goodbye for now, for 48 summers you carried yourself along on this journey, should I see 49 I wish only to be half as beautiful as you
I close my eyes and you were gone, and the room was desolate with all but my love for you
The thirteenth day of June becomes a mere marker of the distance between us
And now all of these years later I sit in my own dwelling, still daydreaming of you, and within the 18 summers that have raced passed me I have borne my own offspring
And when they play as I used to, when they nestle amongst themselves and laugh, the laughter of innocence I smile and I hope wherever you are you can smile too and say “I saw them”
