Mother wore a nightgown and peignoir, the white filmy kind,
\nwalked barefoot out the front door and into our back yard
\nto sit in her crescent-moon-shaped rose garden,
\nher tangled hair caught in the rattan chair.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Those were the days when she got out of bed before noon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
O Etoile de Hollande, her favorite deep red rose\u2014so fragrant.
\nDid she imagine it could be heaven, as she sat motionless
\nwith her breakfast tray, melba toast, the loose tea leaves
\nfloating in the china pot?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I was in third grade my father paid me to make his breakfast
\nbefore he went to work early in the morning.
\nBacon, toast, fried eggs, coffee\u2014I served him
\nat the somber mahogany table
\nwhere he ate alone, wearing his Air Force uniform.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Much later, when my parents moved again,
\nthere was no rose garden.
\nOn good days, she climbed a stunted apple tree
\nand set her tray on the low gnarled branch in front of her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My father pointed to the tree when I came home from college once.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When she came into an inheritance
\nshe spent the cash on trips to Ireland and some Greek islands,
\ngoing by herself, never told me, and invested the rest
\nwith hopes of getting rich but the broker swindled her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gone, except for this picture she kept of wildflowers in Delos\u2014<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She used to sing\u2014I am weary unto death<\/em>\u2014<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those were the days when she got out of bed before noon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6456,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6450","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n