She holds the crystal ball within her withering hands.
What do you see, I
ask.
She gazes intensely and then shakes her head slowly.
I see nothing, she replies.
I understand.
Her age...her dementia...only sees the past
And refuses to look to the future.
There is none.
Her mind does not think beyond the moment.
Yet, I wonder, do any of us see what has been laid out for
us?
Look deeper, I encourage.
I hope, I dream, I wish that she could look to the future.
Could she, would she look forward to a time of transition?
Might she think about those who await her in her afterlife?
Does she still believe?
Carefully I remove the orb and place it in its golden
sparkling stand.
It glows magically and I imagine that I can see what my
mother can no longer visualize.
There he is...my father.
He is smiling and beckoning lovingly.
There are my grandparents all with arms outstretched.
Siblings long departed wave and surround her.
They call to her, my mother, who walks upright with a spring
in her step.
She is no longer silent, unsmiling, confused.
She has found the memories she had forgotten.
Suddenly she sees and knows -- from birth to death,
Her life has been so full.
She remembers it all.
The childhood filled with love.
The friends, the activities, the struggles of the great
depression.
The soul mate who met her so young, so innocent, so ready to
give her heart away.
A life well-lived through wars, hardship, births, deaths,
joys and sorrows.
Achievements and honors, pride and laughter; these are the
things she remembers.
A full circle, contained within an orb.
An embodiment of a life, full to brimming.
Your writing is such an elegant beauty. THIS is one of my favorites.
ReplyDelete(BTW, I'm not active on blogspot, and I see that the account name I have is from some years ago, and back when we were in Red Hats, Billy was in CA with his band and on the makeover show, etc. But if I were to update that name, it would have to be something like "full-blown head of frizzy grey". -Just doesn't carry the same ring, now does it.)