How time does fly! everyone says.
Sitting down this morning with my
once upon a time stepdaughter,
I feel the flutter of those wings
as we navigate past lives,
dissecting the journeys taken.
We steer clear of roads untraveled,
our own passages not so quick.
Peering backwards, our eyes shaded
from relentless memoir, we speak
of the mysterious ways love
can become a vanishing act.
We marvel at how migrations
always feel so uncharted, no
celestial messengers to
set the course for air-borne journeys.
Yet here we are. My hair turned silver.
She with two sons grown to men the
age I was when we said hello
for the first time. They’ve left her nest.
Suddenly, I lose my taste for
talking of disappearances.
I take her hand, trying to slow
down the velocities of time.
Author Bio:
Mary K. O'Melveny recently retired from a long career as a labor rights lawyer. She lives in Washington, DC and Woodstock, NY. Mary wrote poetry as a young woman but then set aside that part of her brain to work on legal issues affecting workers and enforcement of their rights. She has now returned to poetry, seeking its comforts and challenges as a way of making sense of our increasingly crazy world. Since "emerging" as a poet, Mary has been published in various journals, including FLARE: The Flagler Review, GFT Press, Allegro Poetry Magazine and Into the Void.
Sitting down this morning with my
once upon a time stepdaughter,
I feel the flutter of those wings
as we navigate past lives,
dissecting the journeys taken.
We steer clear of roads untraveled,
our own passages not so quick.
Peering backwards, our eyes shaded
from relentless memoir, we speak
of the mysterious ways love
can become a vanishing act.
We marvel at how migrations
always feel so uncharted, no
celestial messengers to
set the course for air-borne journeys.
Yet here we are. My hair turned silver.
She with two sons grown to men the
age I was when we said hello
for the first time. They’ve left her nest.
Suddenly, I lose my taste for
talking of disappearances.
I take her hand, trying to slow
down the velocities of time.
Author Bio:
Mary K. O'Melveny recently retired from a long career as a labor rights lawyer. She lives in Washington, DC and Woodstock, NY. Mary wrote poetry as a young woman but then set aside that part of her brain to work on legal issues affecting workers and enforcement of their rights. She has now returned to poetry, seeking its comforts and challenges as a way of making sense of our increasingly crazy world. Since "emerging" as a poet, Mary has been published in various journals, including FLARE: The Flagler Review, GFT Press, Allegro Poetry Magazine and Into the Void.
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