[Critique Group 1] Sally's October submission

[Sally Rosenthal]

To A FAR AWAY FRIEND

 

 

The memory of six miscarrages

Tucked silently into your heart,

Your childless midwife's hands

Birthed and cradled other women's infants.

 

Sure-footed from years traversing

The rugged Welsh mountains 

of your much-loved native country, 

you did not stumble when cancers

cracked open the ground underfoot..

 

Believing you could outwit fate,

I pictured you invincible until

I heard you speak the word "dementia."

 

How long will you know I am a friend 

And recognize my dogs' photos tucked in your bedroom mirror?

Will you recall the many cups of

Jasmine tea and books we shared

Orhow you laughed at my mangled Welsh words?

 

Know that, as long as I can,

I will carry these memories for both of us

And tenderly hold Your vanishing self in my heart.

 

Sally Rosenthal  

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bluegrasspals.com/pipermail/group1/attachments/20201018/1b0d091e/attachment.html>