POEM: Mom's Dress

When my mother left this world, I was heartbroken.

A piece of my heart left with her.

I traveled to my hometown to say my last goodbye.

I joined the painful family reunion – my father, my sister, my relatives, my childhood friends.

I wanted to keep a souvenir from Mom.

She used to wear a dark green dress when she was young.

It had a beautiful palm tree print that reminded me of a stormy night in Florida.

There is an old photo in my family albums from the seventies,

When my sister was a preschooler,

And I was not even born yet.

Mom wore the beautiful green dress in this family photo.

She kept this dress over the years,

Even after she stopped wearing it.

Decades later the dress was still in her wardrobe,

On a hanger,

As if she could never part with it,

Almost like a wardrobe heirloom.

Even my sister wore this dress when she became a young woman.

She turned the heads of many a young man.

I did not wear it though.

By the time I grew up,

The dark green dress had lost its spark,

The years passed had been unkind to it,

And all that was left from its old days glam

Was the beautiful palm tree print

That reminded me of a stormy night in Florida.

But I still wanted it as a souvenir from Mom.

After the funeral,

I made a pillowcase out of Mom’s dress.

And now the pillow with the palm tree print is on my black leather couch in the living room in my house,

As an emotional cushion.

And every time I hug it,

I feel like I hug my Mom.

Circa 1976

From my book of poetry Sunset in Toronto, page 88.