What an Aging Mother Wants

Something’s left her.
The reserve,
The stoicism with which
She’s faced her life
Have fallen away
Like so many
Deteriorating bricks.

Now she speaks openly,
Emotionally,
With no ability or desire
To stop herself.

She reviews each of her
Long grown children’s lives
Again and again,
As if they were lined up
In front of her,
As if she could wipe away
A smudge here,
Straighten a collar there.

Thoughts have become
More cloudy these days,
But her single purpose
Has become more clear.

She just wants her children
To be happy.
In the end, little else matters.
She just wants them
To be happy.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith