We all need a mother

I've cried for you,
as a child would do,
that gut-wrenching, hiccuping
achy cry that leaves you
swollen and red.

I've dreamt at night
as some children might,
and seen you smiling through
the soft velvet brown sheen in
your eyes.

I've written you letters
with a childish hand,
and told you of love welling
in the fountain of my heart.

Spilling onto the page in inky
blobs of grief which speak
of my hopes and fears.

I've spoken out loud,
not embarrassed, but proud,
and proclaimed that you are
my heart and the one who
taught me to feel.

But, occasionally still,
as every child will,
I whimper in fright.

There are no monsters in my closet,
no bogeymen under my bed ~
But, to know I have the rest
of life without you....

I snuffle and sniffle and cover my head
and "sleep perchance to dream" of your
warm, soft hands clasping mine and
the brown velvet sheen of your eyes.

Though our time here has ended,
I know you're near all the time.
So I talk to you
as your child used to do
and I feel your arms
wrap around me.

It seems no matter how
grown we become
we still need a Mom to call home.

And no matter how long til'
we meet again,
I'll cry for you, dream of you,
speak to you,
because I am your child
and I love you, Mom.