for Kay, in memory of
Geraldine
At two months, she absorbs her mother’s face,
all gentleness and giving;
smiles back without a care.
Young girl, she sees encouragement, pride,
reprimand or disappointment;
learning, reading that alphabet of lines.
As teenager, she must stretch the grain,
find different measures in new faces;
re-arrange the markers of her life.
Easy smiles and shared frowns;
in adulthood, she returns to the home
of her mother’s face.
And when those eyes are finally closed,
and the face is still, its full story written;
she carries her mother’s face onward.
