Poem: For My Mother, September 29, 2008

A Poem For My Mother

Where do I find you now?
If you're in the air
Where are you in the "there"
For I know you're beside me
Your smile is inside me

Where do I find you now?
In the rustle of the leaves
In Dad in his shirt sleeves?
In the songs of birds
in the naked, yawning trees
In the embrace of Winter's cool breeze?
In the screech of tires in the street?
In the pain I feel in my tired feet?

Is it in the Sun’s gentle reach
through the muddled clouds
that lets me know how you teach?
Do I find you in your dearest friends -
In the tears that sometimes never end?
It's in the tea you served us every day
and the wisdom we take from your life's silver tray

This I know
That I'll never forget your kindly smile
Or the charm that was your elegant style
The calm confidence holding your warm hand
How you were so effortlessly grand
The soft, proud forehead that last day I kissed
Dear, sweet Mother, you are sorely missed
(Nick Lowery, Nov 22, 2006)