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I'M Still Here

“I’m Still Here”




When you see me now,
I’m the same person inside
That I was when I gave birth to you
Oh,  so many years ago.

I don’t hear what you say sometime.
I don’t understand your meanings sometime.
I don’t see the same things that you see sometime.
I don’t articulate as well as I once did,
But I’m still here.

My legs are not as steady as they once were 
When I chased after you on a sunny day in the park.
My hands are not as strong,
As when they bandaged and kissed your adolescent scrapes.
My resolve is not as great as when I clutched you to my breast
When  you were crying and afraid.

Whether you recognize it or not,
I’m still here – the same Me inside,
Not as vibrant, not as self-assured, not as sure of herself,
But the same person…inside,
The same person who would be first at your door
If you needed me for as long as I could.

Yes, I’m still here,
The same woman who still clutches to those far-away memories
That  renew my joy when I see you now.
You are, and always will be, a severed part of me
That is moving now in a different direction.

I forget some things that are important to you now,
But I remember trivial little things that we shared years and years ago.
I reside now mostly in our past preparing for that time when you 
Will no longer be within my reach, nor I in yours.

I shelter the memories now of when you were a child,
And you were the light of my life, and I was yours.

Yes, I am still the same person inside –
A little less vibrant,
A little slower, perhaps,
A little more distant, 
A little more far removed.

But I’m still here…
with the same depth of love still beating inside,
And I will always be with you. 


05-29-17
j. b. pearce

Copyright © Jan Pearce | Year Posted 2017

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