Mother's Day 2023
Mark G.

The diamond needs no mountain any more
To fix its crystal shape. Eons of heat and
Weight have done their work. So, heat of love,
Pressure of closeness, weight of grief
have molded me.

I am still as you made me, Mother,
and you are ten years gone.
Yet like a car engine cooling
I tick a bit as I contract.

Note: Mark's mother was a member of Memphis' first Quaker meeting in the 1950s and 1960s.