Mama

Skeletal, shriveled, your shell is a delicate, dry and brittle casing, soon shed. Now, age accumulates and, exiled and bewildered, all free choice fled, death is an unknown terror. You miss your home, cannot understand how, to those who once bent to your will, you've faded to a shadow, powerless, almost forgot, a consequence of the natural order. Enjoy the moments in the sun, your food, your precious breath that I listen for at night. So changed, I cling -- and mourn Your life. Your stroke has paralyzed us both. Cloaked in love, my pity is but another grievous wound you bear.