Light Touches

Your light touch
on the small of my back,
gains for me a courage
lacking sometimes
to even climb the curb.

I appreciate that.
Somehow beneath the layers
of what I hold to be
the who of what I am,
is a someone still of note.

Comforting to lay my hand
on the side of your face
to note the structure
of the child no longer a child.

As the mother of you sons,
born of the best of who we as parents were,
Nature shares her secrets yet,
letting me know that the goodbye kiss
on your foreheads still tells me
you are not feverish.

You know my secrets also
as you hug your adult children
and show them that
no matter how old you grow,
your light touches reveal the depth
and speak volumes

of their place in your hearts.

art by Claudia Hallissey