After Mum

The world seems smaller today.
Mist covers the garden
And the road noise is muffled.
I feel less, somehow, as if
I’ve been carrying you around
Inside me
for years
And now, finally, your tiny weight
Has been lifted and let free.

I found a letter in a drawer.
From you.
It didn’t say much but your voice was strong
and your love in every word.
I found you again.
Not in the shrunken, bony figure
Gasping for breath
Nor in the blank-eyed, wordless
Confusion you became
But in your love
Strong in everything you did
And here, again, in your loving words
To me
Your daughter.