I’m Afraid

I’m afraid to write about your fate

because it might open the gate.

My dam would burst; I’d flood this place

with words and tears of grief,

a surging, spewing release.

And no one in its path could stand

to witness the grief coming from my hand.

My heart would leak out all its pain;

then collapse from the strain

and I may never write again.

This poem was written in November 2001, three months after I lost my mother to a heart attack. I gave up writing for many years, then slowly came back to it. I now find it therapeutic to write about my Mama. Sharing our stories brings her back to life and reminds me how fortunate I was to have her for the first 36 years of my life.