Fresh Pome: Roots
Roots
I feel your disappointment
In me, an echo of my
Mother’s disappointment
In me, or my disappointment
In myself, all three the same
Cry of pain, three humans
Pulled along the river
Banging into hidden roots.
As my mother loved me
Purely and imperfectly
I held you the best I knew,
Blessed and hurt you, sent you
Upriver to be torn and
To triumph and to see beyond
The eddy and bend that will take me
Submerge me, where my bones will
Rest into river bank, exposed,
Contributing to causeway of family
Protruding sharply.
I know my flaws
Will harm the future
As my love will propel them
To surmount the obstacles
I present.
(For James)
I feel your disappointment
In me, an echo of my
Mother’s disappointment
In me, or my disappointment
In myself, all three the same
Cry of pain, three humans
Pulled along the river
Banging into hidden roots.
As my mother loved me
Purely and imperfectly
I held you the best I knew,
Blessed and hurt you, sent you
Upriver to be torn and
To triumph and to see beyond
The eddy and bend that will take me
Submerge me, where my bones will
Rest into river bank, exposed,
Contributing to causeway of family
Protruding sharply.
I know my flaws
Will harm the future
As my love will propel them
To surmount the obstacles
I present.
(For James)