fade...

a pillar of granite,
dissolves bit by bit…

a cable of steel,
unravels strand by strand…

look to the stalwart one, the steadfast one, the one taken for granted…
watch her fade…

scramble to stop the drain...
schedule, prod...

feel the void grow…

watch the candles go out one by one…

watch and do everything…
then, do nothing…

watch and try to remember who she was…

Before.


Today is my mother's birthday. My mother, Joan Broecker, died of a brain tumor a year ago.