She says she’s ready to go
and I know she means
two things at once.
I feel selfish for wanting her to mean
only one—
to stay with us a little longer
enjoying the hummingbird blanket I bought her
(she says it’s her favorite),
and the chocolates she loves
(at 95 I’ve introduced her to something new),
to hear her stories
of when she first moved to Phoenix
with her beloved, 71 years ago.
But bones are breaking in her spine
and cataracts and histoplasmosis
from the Ohio River Valley
make it so she can’t see much anymore.
She wants to go home
and Home.
Holding onto my hands
a little longer at the Rehab Center,
I hear a fluttering, a humming
I recognize as goodbye.
And so, this poem,
meant to explain, to show and not tell,
to show and to tell,
why I am a poet and not something else—
sits here between two things—
where else can I put
all the joy and pain
held in between
these brief but beautiful wings.
© 2025 Jennifer Wagner
poignant is an understatement {{{HUGS}}}
ReplyDeleteLove.
ReplyDeleteLovely.
ReplyDeleteahhh. peace to you both, Jen ~
ReplyDeleteYou got it, poet, gave those wings back right between and because.
ReplyDeleteA beautifully written, poignant poem, Jennifer, that made me well up, especially these lines which reminded me of my mother’s last day:
ReplyDelete‘Holding onto my hands
a little longer at the Rehab Center,
I hear a fluttering, a humming
I recognize as goodbye.’
Jennifer you say so much so understatedly like the hum of those wings - this free verse style suits the poem very well
ReplyDeleteSo moving...💜
ReplyDeleteI am late making the rounds, but I'm glad I did not miss this one, Jennifer. This poem is special.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jennifer! You brought me to tears. Beautiful poem! Sending hugs your way...
ReplyDeleteYvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
This is so sad... with everyone else in my in my wife's elder generation already left this feels way too familiar.... say goodbye as well as you can.
ReplyDeleteSeeing, hearing through your words means only that we hear the "flutterring" too, as only a true poet can make us hear, feel. 🧡
ReplyDeleteSo achingly beautiful, Jennifer, and these lines are exceptionally so..."where else can I put
ReplyDeleteall the joy and pain
held in between
these brief but beautiful wings."