You are here

You would still be here if you could

Chicken casserole soothed our soul on

Cold days with warm hugs

Wrong wipes but all was right

Dark times with bright eyes

Three presents minimum at every visit

Coat still on while you held her

You didn’t waste a minute

 

We’ll have to learn the names of the birds

(and the bees) on the hill

you would have shown her

forgotten gloves

in her haste to help you feed each winter, that will feel a little colder

 

We’ll gather acorns and trace leaves

And your steps

on walks you loved

While we tell her,

how you’d say

“I came with the autumn trees”

And how you adored your Grá mo Chroí

 

We’ll teach her to read,

curled up (to the toes)

With the books you chose

for us, for her

Stories stored away

To set her mind alight

And never read the same way twice.

 

We’ll show her the wildflowers

We’ll listen for bats

We’ll make footprints in flour

We’ll wear purple

And paint and play and write

We’ll make believe

You’re here to stir up magic

And set the world to rights

 

And I’ll sing your song to her

your voice in my ears

your love in my bones

You will be here.