Three Roses

Today is her birthday, another one
where she will never know the love of you
whose name she carries so proudly...

Here I am
thinking again,
feeling motherhood
at the center.

A river of tears cascades through my memory
of the tiny girl who held your face like a mirror
as your incredible voice wiled away the afternoon
with the songs you spun and wove from your heart.

I look at you
with my hands,
watchful
over you.

Your hands so yellow with pain,
your fingers drawn so thin and long,
she wrapped hers around them with the love
that is passed from generation to generation.

Forever I will watch over you,
forever you are mine and I, yours.

I see now your hands but not your face,
I hear the song but no longer recall the words.

Looking with amazement,
your struggles
to present
your fears.

Is the sadness of time the only defense
against the grief that washes over me in a wave
on which I will surf until the end of my days?

Here I am
looking at my footsteps.
How the sea, how the shore
stay forever
in you.

Then she rushes in, her eyes glisten
with the excitement that only youth can feel
at the turning of another year of life, then she rushes in
and momentarily eases the tears from my thoughts.

I see my little dreams growing
for eternity,
and in you I become the story of you.

Her love reaffirms that generations and souls
such as you live on as more than just a name
to be passed along and worn proudly.

Again if my sins are to be counted,
again
I will make you naked
again and again.

Someday another will stand in her place
as she shall walk in mine and know truly
what these words mean and remember
that your music throbs deeply in all of our veins.

I have to wake up from my dreams.
You will still remain
my daughter.

You are my eternity,
she is my hope.

And I sing to you, your favorite lullaby,
the only one I know.

Sing from the heart, my Rose, sing from the soul,
sing, for in the end the song is all that remains.

The apple in my heart,
you bite,
and my heart
is all yours!

And golden slumbers will fill our eyes...