SHE
I found Mum’s photo, face down,
on the floor this morning. I picked her up.
Dusted her off.
My mother was never a beautiful gliding form.
She’d gladly run the lawnmower over a snake,
pierce the ground to stop a mole’s hill,
toss a slug into a busy road.
She played the trumpet as a kid,
said it made all her teeth go crooked.
One summer she plucked every hair from her legs.
Shaving, she said, was a waste of her time.
Mum was sturdy and strong, an emotional axe.
She was a mountain, an ocean, a snowflake.
A laugh.
Her heart was a winter fire that needed
constant attention.
She cared for my dad when he no longer cared.
She was a gentle deed one minute,
an eagle the next.
She never said I love you
unless I said it first, thought somethings
needn’t be said, was her thinking on that.
Her photo is now sitting back on my desk.
Yes, her smile, that’s what I miss the best.
Image is from Unsplash.
4 responses to “Random Recollections”
An amazing portrait!
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Thanks, Sascha.
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So good. ‘an emotional axe’ is a great phrase – and the line ‘… never said I love you / unless I said it first…’ says volumes about both child and mother. Bravo.
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Thanks, Peter.
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