56

I’m trying to memorize every part of you

like a lover you know you’ll soon leave

I won’t see you like this anymore –

Though you might someday watch me drive by,

slow,

like I watched so many cars slow down when the sign went up

I’ll be showing the kids where they grew up

I grew up here too

Learning how to be a mother, how to be a wife

How to nurse a stag fern back to life

How to nurse myself back after nursing three

and losing one in between

(I’ll take the concrete angel with me)

How many more memories can we cram into

the week we have left here?

How did it come so fast?

I have loved looking out your windows

at children on bikes

and the old woman who walks next to hers to steady herself

Help me steady myself as we go

When it rains, go

sit on the screened porch and listen

It’s magnificent

This place has soothed my soul

I hope it will do the same for her