A Mother's Advice

A Poem by Tom Friel

He wore personalities
like other men wore ties.
He was as honest with the truth
as he was with a lie.

I never met his mother
or his father
though he had his father’s nose.
I was told simply,
they were dead.
How or why
I do not know.

We shared the weekend together
in his parents spacious home.
On the market for years
only recently had it been sold.
As I hung my clothes I noticed
the dozen ties lining the rack.
His father’s I could only assume
as my fiance began to lightly touch
and rub my neck and back.

Together
we made love
"all" together
in this room.
Together
we closed our eyes
to a wedding day
that would come to soon.

With one eye open
I saw "her",
a reflection in the mirror.
Could it be
a frightened soul?
Might it be

we shared a common fear?

The room grew cold (Or was it me?)
as a draft brushed against my feet.
Glancing towards the mirror
his mother's eyes I did meet.
As her lips began to move
a soft melody chilled the air.
Frighteningly a mother's advice
was quite hauntingly near.

"Don't let him near your heart,
he'll wear you like a tie.
He'll knot you like a Windsor,
and there your heart will die."