A Family Listens to Their Mother

A Family Listens to Their Mother

We strain to hear our mother's failing voice,
as we stand in the hall of her old house.
Every morning, talking to herself, she says--
"get up, try harder, don't quit."

Trembling,breathless,
our mother tries to rise on stork-thin legs,
her face confused ,wasting into shadow.

Our fierce warrior is dying,
her voice falls down and down,
we hold her upright, wishing she could fly.