A Traceable Heart

(to my Mother and Grandmother on my 70th Birthday)

with paste or glue and scissors too

construction paper, red

background doily lace, we said

whatever we could spell.

Forever we could spell forever 

in xxx's and ooo's back then

with a traceable heart and so we did.

but now there is no way to say back then

what we could say and seal the envelope 

with a baby wish or two in violets are blue

and hand it to you with a shy and glittering hand

knowing you would understand

oh mama, to my mama or my grandmother

I remember your faces and then we wore the pink or  red rose

on Mother's day to let the world know

you were still on earth;we were that happy.

what can I do now with no traceable heart

but only the memory that's on a loop

of how it felt to be cherished by you in the primary coloured days

and to be sure whether my crayoned letters

were crooked or straight it was a kind of lovely fate that

they would be received by

those hearts I came from that now have departed this sphere

and whom I have loved throughout these years

so that all those xxx's and ooo's....

came true and all the dreams I had from you.

mary angela douglas 5 february 2021;rev. 23 march 2021