Memory and aging

Hello friends, memories ebb and flow as I get older, and nature offers her symbols. Here’s a reflective poem about my mother sparked by a butterfly in my garden. Sometimes even nature needs an assist to create beauty in a memory, however distant. Here’s a photo of our mother, Katie, with me and younger brother George. “Return of the Monarch Butterfly” appears in my latest collection “Interbeing: New and Selected Poems on Ecological Spirituality” available at online retailers and directly from Wipf & Stock Publishers. Thanks, Gene

 

Return of the Monarch Butterfly

As I sat in a quiet garden
after my mom’s funeral in Oakland,
a monarch danced among the plants.

I connect this apparition to her words
during our last visit:
“Eugene, please don’t get nervous.”

Hardly a special phrase to memorialize,
but appropriate for her after a life
of kindly nervousness with constant stress,

driven by inner traits
and a difficult marriage,
eased by family and friends.

Monarchs return now and then,
reminders of her, as yesterday
on my way to get the paper.

A panicked butterfly was trapped
in a large spider-web well beyond reach,
wings fluttering gold.

I grabbed an extension pole for skylights
and, after two tries, worked her free
until she lifted off in our mutual joy.