For All Those Who Hold Us in their Hearts and Call Us Home
Daffodils, Spotsylvania Battlefield, April 2023
It’s a shame
when a child must parent
when self lies hidden
when perfection is the only protection
when everything is fine
when yes should be no
when the horizon must always be straight
and every breath requires effort
when copying feels safe
and finding truth like a maze of mirrors
to wonder all the time
Is this what I’m supposed to do?
to rekindle frustration and grief
over what might have been
to take a lifetime to close one chapter
and move on to the next
It’s a shame
But nothing to be ashamed of
