breakfast tea
from plain white china
steam on my upper lip
through sips
i watch tall river grass
from plate glass windows
cleaned to a gleam
in the marina basin
movement
light feathery plumes
catch a gentle breeze
how resilient they are
standing to attention in sunlight
a firm back bone like my mother
not one to wear her emotions
where they were seen
yet her devotion to family
unrivaled
her absent tears flood my eyes
she cried only twice
during our together days
once when my father died
but before that
there was something else
which caused a waterfall
to spill over in a fountain
of sadness
i recall her open arms
as they reached out to embrace
a tear stained and shaken me
in my twenty eighth year