Happy Birthday Mom.
Oh, the grief of loss. Ugh.
You died on May 10, 2026. Mother’s Day.
When I say I miss you, it sounds so cliche. But…I don’t know what else to say.
On the visit to my 85 year old mom
by Lawain McNeil
I think my mom is dying
she shuffles across the kitchen
with stooped back her head is parallel with the floor
there’s a thousand yard gaze on her face
wishing that things were what they used to be
the psalmist was right that our day
come to an end like a sigh—
days of toil and trouble
I’m breathing different here as if there is a lack of oxygen
things of the past flash by as I can’t get my footing—
why can’t things stop for just a second
as we go barreling towards the end.
-March 2026
The Loved Ones - Wendell Berry
The loved ones we call the dead
depart from us and for a while are absent. And then as if
called back by our love, they come
near us again. They enter our dreams.
We feel they have been near us
when we have not thought of them.
They are simply here, simply waiting
while we are distracted among
our obligations. At last
it comes to us: They live now
in the permanent world.
We are the absent ones.
© 2026, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.