When my first cat died
I cried as if my heart would break
mourning
though they did not find her
until the next day
My small, thin body lay
arms pulled close
trying in vain to hold me together
I can touch the pain as if it were
yesterday
We played
and rode bikes
sneaked upstairs together each night
How lucky I was
that she filled my heart so
completely
one summer very long ago.
Door closed Maisie bounded from behind the sofa fresh with the scent of winter we measure the days and hours in Maisie time Locked in the moment he shrugged off a scraped and bloodied face – oblique commentary on a parallel universe Mud and grass stains are part of the game – then bundled to…
Her worn collar long faded and stained used to be hot summer pink with lime-colored palm trees dancing ‘round Set against a pale yellow-white coat – she might as well have been wearing diamonds Later came the grass and mud, chocolate (swiped pastry) and a few garden remnants… over time each stain became an embedded…
Nights you’d prowl the house in stark contrast to days of nursing/moving/coaxing Did you slip away, certain your baby was asleep – forgetting she was an only child soon to miss the warmth of your body? or was it a need from deep inside to have some part of each day silently to yourself? It…
Anger is a poison masking deeper feelings about unconditional love caught in an untenable situation stumbling along the path to acceptance I hear something fall and glance backwards – it’s just a little piece of my heart big girls don’t cry
Strive to live each day in little moments Noting the joy of each and let them become as small steps leading you through the darkness If you can capture one another will surely follow Sometimes we have to tell ourselves to breathe until the normal rhythms of life take over again
Young and very much in love I’d often be overcome by emotion unable to express the depth and breadth of all that was swirling inside Sometimes finding words – though not the right ones I stumbled over them all the reasonable response rarely emerged Less than articulate and reduced to tears (happy tears, sad tears…