(For Kim on her Fiftieth Birthday)

Half century seems nigh unto eternity
to the young
but to others
fifty is the new twenty one.

Her daily grind was littered
with death and disappointment
but still on the weekends
a young girl
eagerly rode
wild and free
on her loving pony
over back woods trails
in the memories
and body
of a chronically ill mother
as she looked on
to her daughter’s bliss.

In the midst
of all the pain and suffering,
of the mother,
of the daughter,
of the world;
each day
contained the hope
of enjoying the world
God had made
especially for her.