I wear my mother’s clothing

Her passing recent

Filling a need

I wear my mother’s clothing

The pants that are too short

The tropical fruit shirt

Daring people to ask

Fulfilling a need

To be close

To a woman

That I never was

As a critical teen

I judged

And ran far away

With my own children came a new and different need of acceptance

But with wrenching disappointment

I dove into the past to sever the cords that bound me in pain

Slogging

Wading

And

Awaiting the sunshine

I journeyed

I let go

Then I could be

Safe

In parameters that worked for me

I felt

I could hold the cards and

Give

And take

As much as I could

Then

She died

And now

I wear her clothes

Feeling

Closer now

To a woman

That could have been prime minister or president

If only she hired a nanny……….