What is in a name/a heritage/a legacy to carry/a choice to embrace/a beauty to bear banner like/into every starved and parched moment/a name to wear loosely/none more fitting/than child of God

There were these episodes/Lassie was finding homes for/giving away her puppies/I would run away crying/hide among my mother’s controlled chaos sewing room/the one mysterious temple/we could not approach/ I huddled with bric a brac/vogue patterns/simplicity and mcCall/I watched myself sob in the floor length mirror/pain oddly displayed and shared/until resolved/episode over/arms held me/ voice whispered/ someday/ someday/you will want a place of your own/shhh/shhh/someday/a long time away/and not yet

From that day to this/some official responsibility clothed us in/mother daughter garb/the final shedding taken place/such a mundane end/no more health insurance bond/permission still to pry and nag/you are grown and strong/what remains is the glowing garment of love/this immortal receiving blanket will ever enfold us/with no limit/no sunset/now get your flu shot

This is a prayer/for teachers/all over the world/a prayer for safety/a prayer for high expectations/a prayer for love as you love your own children/ loved ones/a prayer for a high calling/bigger than a profession/more meaningful than a paycheck/you save lives/you shape futures/I want to say thank you/put a hedge of Gods protection around you/infuse you with the energy of creativity/imagination and love/I wish I could send/each teacher in the world a special gift/we can/we all can/start now

Blessed rain anoints/parched welcome given/tempts the soul/to dance face up/to the warm rain/to the tune of birds calling/squirrels huddling/quick lizards flicking/green/across grainy bark/and the timpani of thunder/crescendo over/resolves in sweetest rainfall/night falls cooler/like the benediction/we go forth in joy

Mum had a way/of teaching kindness by example/we stood on city buses for any aged passengers/said please and a name/corrected sharply/with a look/words if necessary/she’s the cat’s mother/oh/that meant/use her name/ final life lessons were brave/extravagant lashings of love/and Irish humor/ya wanna hear a joke/as she/um Mum/lay propped up in her bed still wielding her needles and yarn/gifts still meant to be given/and late into the long nights she/um Mum/studied the joke books she/um Mum/kept at hand/to soften our days/knowing her work/done well/was almost done

Shout with joy/don’t stop never stop/no matter what this world tells you/tries to take from you/hold someone near/someone you love/and shout with joy/the day your parched bitters forget/drop everything/run/practice like your life depends on it/practice joy my love/practice joy/quiet joy has its place/often an easier companion she makes/set a place for rude/loud/extravagant/joy/let me hear you/gasp/for joy’s next breath

The beautiful girls are now/elegant expressions of grown beauty/inside and outside/I wonder if we crammed enough joy in to their days/eschewed diminishing judgments/beetled brows/I wonder if they know we saw them/see them still/shining

And there we were/awhirl and atwirl in coffee hour/post confirmation glow/for the holy occasion some had to cover our heads/be biblically sound/we hailed from all the globe/well met beneath Tiffany windows/in the Bronx heights/stayed/we beneath banners stitched in faith/by ladyfingers/dashed to duck the camera/for special sherbet punch/and holy cookies/we carried the circle of love with us/the window we craned aloft to always read/at evening tide/there shall be light/such theology/carried us and shall carry us still/confirmed/until evening tide surrenders that light

It is a view I found/brought me peace/as the light waned/as the shadows/crept into her room/the night before a morning departure/fighting tears/I would breathe the air she loved/think of the flat palm leaves the child rode down kangaroo hills/remember she was finally home/at last