The eyes/truly are the window/to the soul/watch the eyes/watch your eyes/nurture the light/with steady tinder/do not surrender your light/lightly

Together again/as we learned/enduring friendship travels/to midwife/rebirth/to care for each other/like sisters

The beauty her hands created/her artist’s eyes saw/also the beauty in us/forever woven into the fabric of our hearts/the beautiful enduring struggle of life

Sweet is the journey/on friendship’s road/whether the IRT 4/the D to Bedford Park/or through the blue skies/we were daughters/girls/young women/mothers/together/across miles/now we travel new roads together/ blessed to be friends/sister friends/to the end of the line

Love happens/you are with your frail mother/shopping/she stops cold at a jewelry counter/pick something/you protest/insistent/mother voice/you remember always/it is not a thing/it is all the love/all the gratitude for the journey/in a moment/planned ahead/to embody/the fragile all important/day

Three trees ring memory/stand guardian/for generations/started small/tiny saplings/grew to proclaim remembrance/grew to sheer beauty/to cast dappled light upon us

The sun on my face/and dear life long friends/just a stroll away/makes smiles so sweet/conquers the obvious/surf jumping row upon row/of troubles/follow obediently and wait their turn/in a windswept anxiety of paradox placed on a temporary hold

One of the oldest/with one of the youngest/of our tribe/sweet wise expression/holding the precious gift of life/smiled prescient/ruminating gently/perhaps/backward gaze/forward possibilities/ the adventures life held in store/that happy day for all our beautiful/brilliants/ now grown/they are living/the dreams of the ancestors/wearing wise smiles as they travel far

Born to flee/born to see/lived as one who knew/the pain/connect the dots/would the world shudder on its axis/shift orbit/seek to be moved/for the image of a child of color/does black death matter/except to God/who knew and knows

For mothers and fathers/who live on/bereft/there are no words/every fallen child counts/and should force/us to change/to be better/globally/beyond walls and borders/to be better/holders of such tiny flickering hopes/there is much that we must do/after we kiss our children/making kissing occasions as we go/hello/good night/rise and shine/hold on/be good/just live