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   Ash Moon Anthology

 Poems on Aging in
Modern English Tanka  

  
   
 

Starlight
 
 

the new dress,

a moving garden

of peonies …

she smiles and I see                                         
her mother again 

 

 
we gather acorns,
laughing as music flares
in the park  . . .
 most of all I remember
 the joy in her smile  
 
 
visiting day .  . .
at noon, her eyes quiet
as she rocks
back and forth singing
the same child's song
 
 

in dying light
the doctor touches mother’s
uncombed hair . . .

old knotty willows brush

the windows with snow

 

 

in the hospice
she whispers "hold me"
and pressing
into the beat of my heart                           
she lets go . . .
 
 
broken-hearted,
he breakfasts

in his son's kitchen

sipping tea

from her favorite cup  

 

 

looking up,
mother loved the night sky;
her eyes smiling . . .                                
can I open her grave               
to let the starlight in?

 

 
______________
 
 
  
all the years
of fitting our bodies together
and still
heat spirals at your touch
. . . your mouth, magic
 
 
 
sparking memories,
I talk about the children . . .
in the quiet
touching your cheek's curve,
you don't know my name
 

 
so many stars!
how will I find you
beyond
the moon, please
still be there for me
 
 
 
the winter wind
swirls a light brown leaf
the color
of my mother's shawl . . .
I can still feel its softness
 
 
 
you doze
to the sound of my voice,
remembering
my face a moment ago . . .
please, don't go away
 
 
wedding day
she treats herself
to a bikini wax  -
her grandma's moustache
newly bleached
 
 
 
the snow,
it seems heavier
this year . . .
your back, my back,
resting side by side
 
 
 
nodding into sleep
the breath of the moon
on your back;
I pull you closer, holding
the light between us.
 

 
how bittersweet
that last look in your eyes
knowing all
the might-have-beens
now are truly gone

 

pink slippers
crossed, she lingers
over tea . . .
sympathy cards
catch the winter light

 

at the reunion
in the middle of a crowd
we hugged  . . .
a smile to melt the winter
he stayed the night
 

© 2007 Carol Raisfeld




 

Works created by Carol Raisfeld are copyright
       and not to be copied or used in any way without  written permission.
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