Mom

I see your beautiful face, but

Where are you?

I see your warm eyes,

But where are you?

Just down the hall

Around the corner. 

Not too far

But so very distant. 

I see the eyes of your own mother

Looking back at me. 

I see the fog of time

Taking you out to sea. 

Where can my mother be?

I look for her everywhere 

But only glimpses do I see. 

You are there for a moment of laughter

Making me weep with joy. 

Then gone in a flash after,

Leaving nothing but a void.  

What dark hall stops you in your track?

Oh please, God, send my mother back.

I want to walk with you, hide you from the dark. 

I cannot keep you here though I will surely try. 

I want to hold you safe, and try to light a spark. 

But our paths diverge, and you continue walking by.

Mom, you have always been the core of me. 

The heart of my own heart. 

Who will I become, when you cease to be?

How can I continue on? Continue to be me?

I want to place your hand in mine

To keep you close to me. 

I wish that I could keep you safe

And never set you free. 

But there is room for only you in your crowded mind. 

Your path leads forward toward a curtain close, and leaves me far behind. 

But cannot I take your hand right now  

And show you that I know.

I could not have had a better mom to carry me.    
To love me and to prepare me,
For this final path you walk. The one you must walk now,
Without me.

Lesley M Mercill (c) 2015.