My thoughts were not unusual,
simple as a child’s,
I wished I had the tulips back.
Their pedals, white, were innocent…
Momma said, they gave luck, a happy soul,
a future for growing old…
Especially when bad things are near.
Together, we planted them,
rows straight and strong,
Mom smiling with sun in her hair.
Times passed and I stood at barren earth,
no more pedals of innocence…
one stem standing,
others simply dead,
I should have known.
We did not water them,
Mom, sick then.
Nights came… stars…one the biggest in the amber sky,
I WISHED.
I wished upon that star.
Sleep came… sudden wake,
daylight, soft, I held my breath like young girls might.
Her breath so still,
so so long.
Old star, I had wished upon,
you did not take my mom.
Would my desperate cry soon come true?
God I wished you’d take her soon,
she needed her relief.
On a Saturday morning, 9:46, mom died peacefully in her sleep, no more pain.
My wish came true.
I cried, there will be white tulips in Heaven.
When I get there together we will together plant them.
Sherry Healy
2023
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