Celebrations & Concerns

Today I stood up
in church
and asked everybody
to celebrate my mother.

Forty-two years ago
she was a few days away
from giving birth to me.
She's lived a good life,
and now she feels like she's done.

I asked everybody
to pray
with Mom, for Mom
for all the days she has left.
There are so many,
stretching out ahead.

When I sat down,
she leaned over to me.

"Now that I've lost my brain," she said,
"I can't think."

"But I still have a heart,
and I can still feel.
And I love you."

I love you, too, my Mama.
For nearly forty-two years.

And counting.