Brushing Your Hair
In the last month you ask me a favor.
Will I brush your hair when you have passed?
You seem to want to greet whatever comes
looking your best. I give my promise.
Each day when I come home, I offer
to brush your hair, but you say no,
maintaining the independence
you have always shown.
Later, in hospice, I no longer ask.
I hold your hands, rubbing lotion in,
skin so fragile, like a butterfly wing.
It is time now to make the last ablutions.
I clean your face and brush your hair,
your sleeping eyes flicker
under paper-thin lids, pale blue veins
tracing their course across them.
I imagine your mother tenderly holding you,
stroking your cheek, watching you dream
in her arms—her newborn daughter
with milky breath.
Ninety-one years separate us, your two watchers.
One joyously bringing you into the world;
the other sitting silently in the dim-lit room,
keeping watch over you through the night.
The poem, “Brushing Your Hair” is from my chapbook, Erasing the Doubt (c) 2015, Finishing Line Press.
A Poet in Time 
Very touching, and beautifully written.
Thanks so much dear Michelle. 💕
Mary, no words. Just beautiful!
💕 thank you
Just lovely, Mary, and full of quiet emotion and love. —- Suzanne
Thanks so much dear Suzanne.
So touching. So beautiful. Thank you Mary 💛
I’m so glad you liked this poem, Val. That means a lot to me. 💕
a moving poem from a great book
Thanks, Maureen. I’m honored that you enjoyed my book and this poem in particular. It seemed a good idea to add this one to my blog.
Yes
Exquisite Mary, so beautifully expressed
My thanks, Rachel. Your comments are always so generous.
And well deserved!
❤
Wonderful poem, Mary! Trouble commenting from my iPad Joan
Sent from my iPad Joan Leotta Author, Story performer http://Www.joanleotta.wordpress.com 910-575-0618
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Thanks so much, Joan.
Beautiful. Very sad and very moving, and filled with that quiet, loving wisdom that speaks through so many of your poems. And I LOVE that last stanza with the 91 years that separate the watcher. This is one of my favorites of your lovely work, Mary! 🙂
Thank you so much, Robin. I value your comments so much. It was a privilege to be with her and think back on her life.