Thursday, December 13, 2012

still in my heart, and in how I live my life



remembering Mother   

7 years ago, about 7 hours before now,
my mother took her last breath
and then didn’t take another,
she just slipped away
after near a decade of the long forgetting of Alzheimer’s,

that decade like a long dusk into night
as slowly, oh-so-slowly, shapes and particulars
dissolve back into a dark, welcoming womb,

I tell stories about her,
cook the angel biscuits almost her trademark,
make the summer transparency applesauce
she Foley food milled every summer like her mother,
my wife regularly bakes the Southern Chocolate Sheet Cake Mother favored,

we maintain her dream of the cabin-on-the-creek
as gateway to nature wild 


for family and for whoever can find their way
 to the porch above the stream,
to the embrace of the rooms,
to kitchen and table she once filled with goodness,











when I take care of my children, my grandchildren, my students,
Mother is still with me,
every day since her passing I’ve missed her,
even when I haven’t realized it,
every day she’s still in my heart and in how I live my life,




thank you, Mother, for how fully you were your best.




by Henry H. Walker
December 7, ’12

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