While I was picking up a few groceries on Sat. Victoria surprised me with a fresh Spring center-piece on the dining-room table.
(this week's Saturday muffins; carrot-raisin-nut)
A mother’s heart can tiptoe soft
The pencil-line shadow of Thirteen
Stretched all the way to the evergreen
As child, but not for long, waits for the bus
A mother’s heart can clench sweet agony
As floral cup touches lip
Where Thirteen discovers the friendship
Found in a cup of mango-tea
A mother’s heart can follow like a prayer
That arm-and-leg dreamer and dancer
As Time, ever a smooth romancer
Courts Thirteen without a care
A mother’s heart can break and heal
In one quavering inhale, exhale
Where Thirteen, tumult of smile-tear regale
Teeters twixt woman and girl
A mother’s heart can bend and bear
Love’s fabric, as Thirteen grins
Oblivious to worlds beneath a mother’s skin
And that long, slow, seamless tear
© Janet Martin
Something about Thirteen that gets me every time! Victoria turned 13 a few weeks ago and suddenly she just seems older.
Congratulations with your sweet daughter ... and thank you for this beautiful poem! I shared a tear, recognizing myself in the feelings and thoughts described ... Letting go of the childhood periode ... Even when something new is arising, yet as a parent it is a "loss" of the well known and cherished time, that we have and are thankful for, but which is going to change in one way...
ReplyDeleteNina, you describe my joy-sorrow tug exactly! thank-you for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeletePrecious daughter you have.
ReplyDeleteI loved your poem!