Mothers Day Suite
II: 1976

I asked you to be there
and you were
when I was too timid
to take the bus all by myself,
afraid to end up far away, late for school,
lost to you
like the cat we left behind
somewhere in Saskatchewan.

Without asking you understood
the dangerous flick of
light and shadow
light and shadow
of each new place.
You dressed our old worries in new uniforms,
and fresh kisses,
your little soldiers lined up, ready
to be led
but only by you,
our general, our medic,
our mother.