"...SO I DID WEAVE MYSELF INTO THE SENSE..."
( In memory of my Aunt Peggy )

the candle carves
your face
out of the dark

you waver
with its flicker
become a mask

I watch your words
float across the space
between us

I see every syllable
all your pauses
your each and every punctuation

you recite
Herbert
with an American accent

I try to pull you
out of the dark
of the past

but this is all
memory will allow
of you

I say your name
to make you more real
"Peggy...Peggy!" I call to you

now far away
from that lost day
your daughter's love

reminds me of
who you were
to me

your Chicagoan voice
telling me: "Gee....
you've got curls like a girl's!"