Visitation

.
She came to me, unexpected,
a dream, a too familiar face,
I was overjoyed to see -
.
Grown up I reverted,
to five said, "Mummy."
She opened a door
between us, smiled,
.
said, "Why do you stand there?
There behind the closet door,
where a single push will hurt?"
She pushed to prove her point.
.
I spiraled into waking, in tears
of loss, I knew her death,
clarified how much I missed
her companionship, boundaried with
.
cruelty. Why did she come now?
Black joy, to discord comfort.
"Why be a victim?," she asked
a question I'd asked myself
.
each time in the mirror,
saw my mother's face etched in
fine lines over my own.
.
maisie (2008)
new edit 2011