Mother’s Day

They’ve come back     the leaves
Though they are all different this time

Their shadows are ancient heartbeats
Hands on the breath of memory

I have seen you exhausted from your efforts
Seasons sleeping in the guitar on your breast

The crickets whispering for the first time this year
A dog’s lonely bark from blocks away

I have seen you joyous and quiet
Smooth stone on the riverbed of night

There’s a sound in your bones
Harmonizing with your daughter

An image developing across your ribs
Your boy wading across the shallows

Leaves drifting past his ankles
It’s been half a year the leaves are different

And a year’s a long time
And every spring is tender