Mary Elizabeth Lattimore Connor d.2004

I remember
You'd need a chisel to get those damn lemon drops
Only eaten when I couldn't coax proper candy
(So almost never)
On the end table. Next to the show couch no one dared touch
Under the antique lamp that didn't get turned on, unless by you
At Christmas, the glass would fill with minty chocolate candies
But my, isn't this rose sofa gorgeous and comfy?

A smile. A hug. A kiss.
God knows I wasn't worth any of it.
Asking what I did that day
What does any kid do?
Or adult for that matter

You brought forth:
an aeronautical engineer
an artist dreamer
a cowboy pilot
a career officer
their children:
a mathematics professor
a nurse
whatever the hell I am
a social worker
entrepreneurs
a lawyer politician
their children? infinite possibilities

You created. 

the girl who went to Baylor for a time and wrecked her leg in a car crash a few lifetimes before I knew you
with the streaked perm that became ever grayer as they are wont to do if folks are honest

I watched you wither
Become a husk

I wasn't there when you left
Couldn't be

I always remember you