Mom- Anonymous

Every time snow fell
Blanketing our home with hope,
You brought out our sled,
Put me on your back,
And raced us down the hill.
Your cheeks cherry red with cold,
Your smile emblazoned in my
Little, trusting heart.
Full of joy and security,
I lugged the sled back up
The steep hill
So I could soar back down
Attached to you.
The wind seared our faces
With whippet cold,
But we didn't mind:
We were one,
As we had been before
I struggled forth a few
Years earlier, my ccries of fear and pain
As loud then as my hilarity on the sled.

Years later,
It was silence that assaulted my senses.
You lay there as still as
The humid summer day
That it was.
I stared so hard at you;
At frail Whiskey Sours,
Now as silent and still as you.
Still.
And with that silence
You stole those
Halcyon snowsled days,
Those brisk happy odes to merriment,
And Trust,
And slammed them into
Eternal Oblivion
Beyond Memory, on the Other Side of
Reason and Love.
It's funny how
One impulsive Act
Can drain the happiness out of a Lifetime.
Now when snow falls,
My children's laughter seals for a time
The vicious wound of reminiscence-
And I smile with my eyes,
If not my heart.