The card was supposed to make me laugh
the card from my mother
My mother who is fading and shrinking

She  sent me the card
With a Sandra Boynton Cat
Sitting in a bathtub
Telling me
When the going gets tough
She finds it helpful to take
A bath
Open the card
"I've been here since last Thursday.   Love, Mom"

 

The card was supposed to make me laugh
The card from my mother
My mother who is fading and shrinking
and it did make me laugh

The card from my mother who for an instance
Stopped disappearing from this life
Came alive the way she always was
To make me laugh

And that made me cry
Soul wrenching tears
I did not know I had in me
Tears torn and forcing their way out against my will
Knowing I won't be seeing so much
of the old mom any more
When I do it will be a gift to be protected
Taken out and looked at again later

 

One of those gifts will be
This card that was supposed to make me laugh
This card from my mother

My mother who is fading and shrinking