A Daughter's Valentine Received at an Odd Moment

Your valentine arrived here in the mail today
saying that you would love me always
and I burst into tears
for knowing that while you
might love me always
i would not be here, HERE, to know it
always:
your love for me would have its limit
too, like water rippling from a stone's throw.

your valentine with its white cupid
adorning the front
arrived here in the mail today
while i was trying to reconcile
dying with living
and having a hard time of it.

the white, naked cupid adorned
my windowsill for weeks.
Every short moment I looked at it
I thought how you would love me always:
I know you meant it, but,
life is such a contradiction.

North Kingstown
April 1989

 

~Return To "Being in a Family"