Greetings from this way-too-cold-and-snowy Minneapolis morning. In an effort to write more, connect more, blog more, I bring you the first installment of Poetry Monday. Have a great day!
{Dedicated to those estranged from family}
What You Cannot Erase
Here in my mirror
in a fleeting glance,
sometimes your brown eyes
look back at me,
the thin lips of your smile,
or that expression I used
to see on your face.
At midlife now
I recognize
your chin, your jowls.
It’s always a surprise,
unexpected,
strangely not
unpleasant.
I know, gloatingly,
that you must see
it too–
my face sometimes
looking back at you,
the mirror like a
secret passageway,
a messenger
reminding
no matter
the disagreements,
unresolved feelings,
or silence,
you cannot erase my face.
I almost laugh
when I see it,
like a joke Nature has
played on us:
you cannot erase me.
I cannot erase you.
Even if nothing
ever resolves,
(I hope it resolves)
we are ever linked
in a dance
of DNA and mirrors.
I wouldn’t erase any of it.
This path has brought me
here today, linking onward
to my children,
and the future.
It’s history,
my-story
your-story,
painful and exhilarating
and I will never
ever
stop wrestling
with it
until it blesses me
and makes me stronger.
It will
make me
stronger.
[Photos courtesy of Danny-G-528854 and Marc-Olivier-Jodoin of Unsplash.com]
Wow. Deeply felt and delivered.
Thanks a lot, Shari!
Wow. Right On The Money for a lot of us, especially as holidays creep up. Thanks, Theresa.
Thanks, S! I realized that after I posted it, how appropriate it is for many, especially this time of year.
Deeply written; deeply felt.
Glad you enjoyed it, Linda!
Wow. Your words always move me so…Thank you for this. Thank you.
I’m honored that this meant something to you, my friend!
Powerful and simple. Well done!
Thanks, Ann!
Love this!
That means a lot, Christine!