A Visit With Mom Poem by Erin Cowart

I went to visit mom today
And ask the standard fare

Are you Ok
Are you comfortable
Do you need anything

Tell me a story
Make me laugh with tales of long ago

Walking now and with bated breath
I tell you of my life

Joys, sadnesses, triumphs
Pains, loves, hopes, dreams…
All the good things

I wait for your reply
Like a flower waits for the morning dew
Patient, slow
With hope for the nourishment to come

I want to bloom with the wisdom of your words
Advice from a sage
Wisdom from the wise

Instead I am here
In a field of dust and bone
Surrounded by the stone monuments of men
In the only place I can see you

And somehow I cannot see you
You are not there in the field
You are not there in the trees
Or the hot sun that beats down

So where are you with the wisdom I need
Where on this tiny hurtling rock can I find you
And if I find you what will you say

Do I want to know
Do I want to seek for that which cannot be found

Rather to sit for a while
With your voice in my head
And dream a million replies

Better to find you in the small moments of everyday existence
Easier to hear you in my head as I speak to my child

I open my mouth and my mother comes out
And what a joy to find you still here

In a kiss light as a feather
A touch firm as a cloud
Moments fleeting but joyful
Still I find you