I didn't know how much I'd come to love you

'Are you looking for a job?'
'Why don't you let your hair grow?'
'What time does the flight land?'

Your big doe eyes
Long painter's fingers
Head-first walk, you're
always late somewhere

Like me

'You're too smart, I can't keep up'
'Loving you has always been easy'
'I never wanted you to be different'

Every day complaining
About your garden cats
Every night watching
them sleep through the cams

'When are you coming over?'
'When are we getting grandchildren?'
'When will you write in a language I can read?'

As a teen, I censored in me
every trace of you
Spit out every seed
Buried every bud

They still bloomed

'I'm so proud of you'
'You are better than me'
'I'm sorry I said that'

Some sweaters are worth unravelling
And reknitting
Even if it takes more than twenty years

I realise I don't need to wear you always
I can take you off if 
the neck feels tight or the wool
prickles and suffocates me

And yet, I've never worn you so much, mother,
Scent of mimosa on a damp winter day.