Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a seven-time Pushcart nominee and four-time Best of the Net nominee. She has authored several chapbooks along with her latest full-length collection of poems:Hasty Notes in No Particular Order newly released from Aldrich Press. She is the 2012 winner of the Red Ochre Press Chapbook competition for her manuscript Before I Go to Sleep and according to family lore she is a direct descendant of Robert Louis Stevenson. www.clgrellaspoetry.com

Motherless

Mother, nothing’s quite the same
these days, and living is a harder thing to do−
the way the roses cup the sun is so unbearable,
reminding me of you, as blossoms quiver
all unwoven grasping hummingbirds and bees,

the way your lip became a trembling flower,
the cry for morphine on your tongue−
with sorrow as we’d count the hour,
unknowing all the quickness in a seraph’s
step; their wings, a dance with grace,

but how I miss the comfort of your face.
Yours was not a selfish way to die,
our home your hospice as we each took turns
to lie beside you in your bed, like shepherds
guiding you to light- though one by one

we whispered, do not go gentle into that good
night– you, much braver than I’d ever known,
a warrior when illness stole your flesh
but left a hollow where a body used to sleep.
Sometimes I weep then wish I had a minute

more to say, your beauty was magnificent,
especially on your dying day. I think of you,
our midnight’s last goodbye- remembering,
you said my name and then I watched you fly…