With your love of gardens and birdsong
And your birthday in April …
Tax Day
Easy to remember
Easy to celebrate
Because everything about you was easy
In the very best sense
Of the word
Springtime
Celebrating
Your birthday
Then Easter
Mother’s Day
Springtime itself
I unknowingly brought you flowers
That would rebloom
Long after you were gone
104 years old
The matriarch of five generations
Including my mother’s mother
My grandmother
My godmother
My best friend
The “queen” of your nursing home
Their longest resident ever at 15 years
You were beloved
You are beloved
You laughed easily
Smiled in the face of tribulation
Always had a kind word to say
Rebloomed wherever you were planted
Loving
Accepting
Light-hearted
You died last year
beneath your springtime quilt
I made for your 101st birthday
Just a month shy of springtime
Filled with butterflies
Flowers
Lime green
Lilac
Purple
Love
Lightness of being
You were springtime itself
On your birthday this year
I will file my taxes
And think of you
