Maybe stars are just that

  And whatever imperfections

  we called stars,

  just the blue mirror of feathers

  catching our light.

       - Anna Swanson, The Nights Also, 2010, p. 93

Maybe stars are just that : mirrors
The night sky, an article of faith

Go out into the dark night

          (there is light)

Mirrors reflecting :

          there is light within you

Some hours when her grandmother was dying

Some hours when her grandmother was dying, she sang to her a lullaby -- something she learned among trees and stars a long time ago.
When her cat was dying, though in agony she could barely get the sounds out, she sang the same again.
Same year. Different months.

She doesn't know what the sounds of the lullaby mean but they live in her and she sings them.

As dusk arrived on a mostly grey day in December

As dusk arrived on a mostly grey day in December, she stood in a long corridor.
In the quiet and under fluorescent light, she paused deliberately.
One breath, two...
With care, she removed the paper qualifier.
Took it home to paste in a book.

The white cat loved the blue couch

The white cat loved the blue couch, most recently, loved curling up on the left side.
I would sit on the right, sometimes press my feet in close beside her.
She died three days ago.
She was 15.
The hole now in my heart is huge.

here is a gift

here is a gift
of fresh seed

(dear birdie)

and a shiny ribbon that dances in the breeze

To the white cat on the blue couch

To the white cat on the blue couch, she announced,
"dinner service,"
as she set her beloved some food.

She paused and watched

She paused
and watched
as her lawn ornament revved up
and slowly,
paddled away.

Sometimes, unexpected things happen, unexpected bonds form.

She observed on a Sunday

She observed on a Sunday that like cars, the windows of an orange digger get fogged up too on cool, September mornings.

After putting on her super-hero costume

After putting on her super-hero costume with her super-hero powers and her super-hero cape, she decided to have a cup of tea.

She also thought she might lie down and be horizontal for a while.

She put on her super-hero costume

She put on her super-hero costume and proceeded through the day.

When she died

When she died, Old Ugly was in full bloom.
The tree she named brimmed with small green leaves and shaded her room.

Evening

In the evening, I gathered water, glass, flowers, flame.

They brought us tea and ice water

They brought us tea and ice water, which I drank,
bananas, which I ate,
and stories of my grandmother.

From the long-term care facility on a wing of the third floor

From the long-term care facility on a wing of the third floor,
we looked out the window of a sun room.
There goes a man walking two dogs, there goes a neon green car,
there goes a woman wearing white rain boots.

"When I was young, I always wanted to have a pair of white rain boots," she said.

This morning on the radio

This morning on the radio,
Molly Johnson commenting on a song by Amos Lee:

Flower rhymes with power.