O'Donnell, Angela Alaimo

English

Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

98           volume 1,  number 2  journal of the motherhood initiative            99 I.As children well schooled in love and loss,we gather in these last December days.Her dying an abyss we have to cross,yet none of us has found the proper wayto navigate the single plank of lifestruck plain across the darkness far below,its width as trim and narrow as a knife,its length as long as sorrow and as slow.We conjure the solstice and the sunwho runs his brief course across the sky.The winter of our lives at last begunas our mother has, at last, begun to die.We honor conclusion, her final year.We walk the brink of time, despite our fear.II.We walk the brink of time, despite our fearand learn to love this living hour by hour,the urge to cling together strong and clearas Florida blue, the red hibiscus flowerthat blooms against December’s brilliant dayand teaches us that beauty does not cease,that life regales us on our joyous way,and, when we’ve reached the end, provides release.In the Valley of the Shadowangela alaimo o’donnell100           volume 1,  number 2The place we walk cannot be seen by eyeor told by heart or touched by eager hand.It is as high and wide as summer sky,its birds as bright and many as the sands.There is a music there we cannot hear—a song so long and sweet it charms the ear.angela alaimo o’donnell

In the Valley of the Shadow

https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/download/31211/28648

In the Valley of the Shadow

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Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)