-- Parents Never Know --

by John Herlihy

Parents never know what their children become,

Disappear back into the earth, each child left alone.

The years of sands have through the hourglass run,

Memories as names and dates on a lone gravestone.

Even as we age, our parents see us as different,

My mother said she always dreamt of me as a child.

There I see in a sunny meadow, licking a peppermint,

An image of calm in a life destined to be varied and wild.

Never to see the etching of wrinkles over the years,

Old enough to live young lives, not old enough to die.

Never to walk thru the field of smiles or valley of tears,

Hear the voice of mom’s tenderness on which children rely.

Children travel great distance, leave their parents behind,

Challenges and adventures that represent a parting of ways.

Back home in the hearth, parents send forth thoughts kind,

Expressive of hopes and dreams, while their longing stays.

In mother’s eyes, I saw elements of the life I would live,

A vision spread out before me as an unravelling scroll.

Leading me into the future with all that she could give,

All hopes and dreams that would make my life whole.

On the day I left, on my shoulder her hand of benediction,

I’ll be back, I said, glancing at darkness in the open door.

She had to let me go, then she let me go, no contradiction,

I gave a childish wave of my hand as I walked thru the door.

The day of parental separation continues to be forever told,

How life can be at once and not at all, as a great tree felled.

The sweetest memories as flickering stars in the mind to hold,

Memories as the beating heart of a songbird in the hand held.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Friday 31 May 2024