The anniversary of my mother's death

It was the other way around,

than some would say was meant;

I mothered and I cared for you

as child and woman grown.

And yet through years of smiles

and tears, of desperate pain

and hope, you held me in

some ghostly arms, in ways

I did not know. And now

the tears, can fall at whim,

for will can play no part,

reminding me that through

it all, you gently held

my heart. And in the deep

remembering, I know

you would repeat -

you did your best,

there was no more

that you could give or be.