The Things I Wish My Mother Knew

Created out of what surely was the deepest love
at the time, you were blissfully happy and unaware
that soon there would be another to love;
another that would require more of you
than you could imagine.

You held out your hand for those tiny fingers
and you kissed the scraped kneecaps
until the pain dissapeared under a pink bandaid.
And each day you watched her become
who you always wished you could be.

The years that seemed like days passed.
You spent them hunched over math books,
reading through reports, playing chauffer.
But it was worth it on those nights when
you’d stay up for hours laughing together.

Then the times when she would close up
and hide away in the songs and words.
You wondered how to reach her.
You tried, and realized
you just had to let go.

So the tiny fingers that you reached for yesterday
are the same ones you let loose today.
And the nights of laughter outnumber
the nights of shadow and anger.
And in the end she’ll learn how to love
her own the way you loved her.

~ by Jessica Phillips on November 7, 2007.