Mom

My mom passed away on May 19. She was 91 years old. She died peacefully at home. My brother and I and the Hospice chaplin were with her. 

Mom’s marriage to my dad was not a good one. Sadly, he was a belligerent alcoholic. Mom left him when I was 15. That was in 1972. 

She met and married her second husband in 1975. He was a good guy. He passed away in 2015. 

About two years ago Mom and I were going through some of her things and we found a couple of poems he had written her in 1974. She said she had forgotten what a romantic he could be.

Mom’s name is Marlene and his is Bruce. I am posting those poems:

Dearest Marlene,

     Here are a few thoughts about you:

What am I without you?

     a day without sunshine—

     a night without stars;

     a world without clouds to embrace me. 

                          *****

Listen and you will hear my love. 

Listen and you will hear it in the wind

and in the surf that embraces a

     sandy shore,

you will hear it in a mountain

     stream dropping to the level of the sea.

Listen and you will hear my love

     in the rain that falls

and in the silence of the sun. 

                                    Love,

                                   Bruce 

Mossyrock, Wash.

December 11, 1974