WITH HER DYING MOTHER By Victoria Woolf Bailey

WITH HER DYING MOTHER    
                                                      
I see them stand in public embrace.      
The reason that I cry –               
this moment in time, a spot of grace,
relief from the pain it cannot erase,             
as they say their day’s goodbye.

I see them stand in public embrace,
each day a length of fragile lace,           
threads now gone awry.
A moment in time, a spot of grace,   
her life like a flower in a vase –
faded and dry.

I see them stand in public embrace,
adding water just in case,
if drought they might defy.
A moment in time, a spot of grace,
to talk and laugh at the commonplace,
a poultice to apply.

I see them stand in public embrace,
this moment in time, a spot of grace.

Victoria Woolf Bailey’s first full-length collection “Cannibalism and the Copenhagen Interpretation: a Love Story” is set to be published by Finishing Line Press in March 2022.