Of your towering smiles, your warm arms,
Of lumbering voice that could shake the windowsills
And terrorize the birds outside
If you were less gentle.
One more year
Of tucking feathers in each other’s messy hair
When the trail calls our names
And we wander farther than our eyes think,
Our feet carrying us as our hearts hold one another.
The sense of adventure sparked wild from birth
Born again in you from me.
One more year of sneaking glances at you when I tell a silly joke,
Enduring my playfulness with an embarrassed grin
How I love to make you smile.
One more year of learning new surprises about you
That echoed in me before, making my very bones ring out in laughter.
There’s a simmering beneath the surface of you, close to the brim,
Making your own mind, while so many cannot.
You dance the edges of propriety and “acceptance”,
The same waltz as your mother, though your feet are steadier than mine ever were.
We’ve had one more year than we thought we would.
And I’ll always be asking for one year more.
Thank you for choosing me to be your mother, you are the most beautiful human I’ve ever known ❤️
A Burd in Flight 