Better than anything,
her cuteness makes me smile.

Underneath the maple tree,
we laugh for a very long while.

The next thing we both know,
the sun is nearing its stage to set.

Time seems like our enemy
when we realize that’s all we get.

End-of-day loveliness
stretches across the carnation sky.

Remembering the late hour,
still deferring the day’s goodbye.

Yesterday’s such as this
often leave a feeling of bittersweet.

But those memories, they fill us
on days when we’re incomplete.

Illusions of everlasting delight
remain cradled upon our chests.

So many things a mother suffers,
the losses are hard to digest.

Come what may we say in quiet,
as the years start to pass us by.

Until the end draws nearer
and we’re left with all the why’s.

It’s the not knowing that hurts the most;
the answers never found.

This life is never easy,
but we do our best to be around.

Silently we pass; still, nobody ever knows
all a mother suffers and endures
as they watch their babies grow.

© 2022 Michelle Cook

---

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/mother-child-family-daughter-girl-3793521/

Writing prompt: Buttery biscuits – given to me by my very sweet daughter, Autumn Rose.