It breaks my heart to know
my destiny could have been
a brute 'n rural life
a heart 'n mind which never saw,
the Light of Life
Admidst a horror
I'm too shy to speak of
my only hope, my only shield,
left me that April day
the day my mother died
At the age of ten
Statistics 'n Probability
did close the report on my life
Unaware of the great power
left behind,
for me
Like a Ring of Power,
or a Last Supper chalice,
there sat in my house,
mine own salvation
On a dusty shelf
oft disguised by empty
beer cans 'n half-full
whiskey bottles,
sat a Treasure--Books;
my mother's books
The Gift she left for me
Hiding in my bedroom;
lover's nest and cell,
I travelled with Tom Sawyer,
where I met a mongoose named Rikki,
as I played on an impossibly long Wall,
in a place called China
Though Evil callused
my heart 'n mind
It did not know,
Hope 'n Light
were locked therein
For Hope 'n Light
exploded;
launching a 14 year old
from a dirty bedroom,
into the World
my mother died,
but she never left me
Books
The Gift she left for me
Rena Carnoma

p.s. In the past I posted a poem in April to honor my mother's passing
However, I have been missing for more than one April
So, instead, I post this for her
Adel



