Quiet Moments

It is a quiet place, special, a place kept secret, not shared,
and it will be this way forever perhaps
as I feel not the need to burden others with my thoughts, feelings.
With the passing of time and my " healing"
visits there are becoming less frequent,
not because I love, care, less than before
but more so because the pain has subsided,
eased to the point where memories are now smiles,
smiles that are seldom, if ever, accompanied by tears,
and now, unlike when she was living,
when routine was the bedrock of her life
I need not phone in advance to make a date
I can turn up any time, unannounced,
just drop in to sit, look, remember...

" I'll come back as a Robin" she used to say
" to keep an eye, make sure you are behaving"
then she would laugh, sip her tea.
Tears came easily with the first Robin sighted
and the second, third, but they are now met with a smile
and visions of her sitting hunched in her favourite chair,
a part started crossword on her lap
the words within painstakingly written, some not finished...

I smile as I write this, bid her goodbye,
then leave until the next time.

Author's Note

For whatever reason the original post of this has vanished from my page along with all comments etc, so if this seems familiar, it is :))

Reviews

[Unspoken poet]

This is touching and so wonderfully penned. I love thinking about memories but unfortunately i can't live on them. I'd give anything to have my family back... Nicely written and expressed.

[Gee]

Thank you for your read and review :)

[Fran Marie]

A heartwarming write- up about your mom
beautifully penned with deep and fond
memories of bygone days which now bring
smiles ..a loving peace now felt..

[Gee]

Thank you :)

[barleygirl]

A longtime friend of mine said yesterday (after spilling her heart out on a FB posting I did about my mom) . . . she said she shouldn't still be mentioning her mom all the time (becuz she passed away a few years back). I thought of you & how your poems about your mom have been like a roadmap of your healing journey (illustrated perfectly by your "robin" ending). Many folks write about losing their spouse or partner for many years, why not a parent? Your writing about your mom is some of your best (((HUGS)))

[Gee]

Thank you..

[KeithMansfield]

This reminds me so much of my late mother. Cup of tea and a book. Memories, over time, gravitate towards the good times rather than the sad don't they. Thank you for sharing this.

[Gee]

Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.

[KWP]

Your words have a warmth from the outset. I like the start as I am a fan of the quiet moments. You know every time I slice a lemon and the spritz of juice aroma enters the space I am immediately transported to my Nan's kitchen in Melbourne. She had a tradition of drinking lemon juice every morning and wetting the bread to throw into her fairytale backyard for the birds.

Interesting how we humans move through grief, experience and life. And really, it just all comes back to LOVE.

[Gee]

Aye, the more we love the harder the seperation.
Never had any relations apart from my immediate family :) and most of them I could well do without.
Thanks for dropping in, always appreciate seeing you here.

[KWP]

most of them I could well do without.

*laughs out loud

[Ken Simm.]

Oh yes, I can associate with this beautifully penned poem. Grief is like an ice berg. Most of it unseeen but occasinally we come to allow others and in that we find perhaps a catharsis.

[Gee]

Thanks Ken, hope you are keeping well

[John the Baptist]

Grief is an individual matter. The speaker here is addressing an extended grief for a very special person, the pain of whose passing has left a deep wound. Still, there are indications the healing process is taking its course, to the point "where memories are now smiles." The healing is not complete yet, but allowing it to take its own course seems to be working.

[Gee]

It is indeed.
Thank you for reading and commenting

[Davidgeo]

Dementia, Alzheimer's... that is what this brings to my mind.

Are you a fan of Regina Spektor by any chance?

[Gee]

Morning Dave, have just googled her :)
This offering is about the quiet place in my mind that I visited lots after mum had passed. Don't go there as often now due to the passing of time and the pain easing I suppose.
Hope you are keeping well

[Davidgeo]

Ah, dark but light. The memories, I love but hate them sometimes. I'm younger than you but I feel you.

The album "far" is probably her best work. A song called "Folding Chair" always makes me smile. "The sea is just a wetter version of the sky"

[Davidgeo]

Hope you are well as well. Things seem to be getting a little shiner for the world.... I do hope so anyway.

[Gee]

All is good in sunny Milton Keynes, far to busy at work but healthy as are all of the family.
Off out soon with the youngest of my two cockers, the older one is knackered

[Davidgeo]

I love how you talk

[Gee]

LOL. Simple like my words:)
This place seems to be going down hill fast. Used to be a time when there were numerous folk I looked forward to reading now there are but a few. Seems the younger, newer scribes think they are the next best thing but in the main they are shite at what they are doing and take critique very badly, bless their cotton socks :)

[Davidgeo]

You are not wrong with that critique. I treat this place more like a diary than anything else. I no longer expect any kind of solid discourse. To be fair, I may be a part of the problem you speak of.

But no one touches me up like they used to though. It's either fake nice or fake mean. I kinda miss that legitimate discourse. My writing has suffered greatly without it.

[Davidgeo]

.... and no one listens to good music anymore... that pisses me off more than anything.

[emmajoy]

Gee, dear man, through time and a woman's life-long generosity you know how to.. love forever. There are billions of Robins, you know.. but you and she have just that one forever and ever.. amen. Why? Robins are territorial and the three of you know exactly where.

[Gee]

This made me smile, thank you :)
Hope all is well with you EmmaJ and you are enjoying the sunshine.

[emmajoy]

Nothing quite like sharing smiles! Things are going as well as can be expected.. as is said in certain circumstamces. Gee.. and, what's more - the sun is shining, birds are singing and the gardens have suddenly decided to show colour - yayyy! Hope you and your darlings have a smiley and safe weekend planned. Take care.

[Lorry]

I do wonder if it's a trick of the eye that those Robin sightings might now make you ponder if that Robin was smiling or trick of the ear that their song sounds brighter. I remember my dad saying he had pre booked a fluffy white cloud over parkhead. Won't be much of a surprise that there's a cloud over there now, but every time I've Ben, there is always a white fluffy one hanging back from the group. Never did realise his vision was so good 😊
A dear, dear woman, so sadly missed by you and no doubt all who knew her, but none more than you.

[Gee]

Cheers Lorry. Miss her loads but now with a less sad heart :)