Gosh, it's been almost a year since I posted here in my blog. I haven't forgotten. I've just been taking a break, filled up with all that life has been offering and feeling satisfied with the opportunities to touch lives in my day-to-day world. 

But I thought that I would peek in today to share my love for my mother, how grateful I am for her investment in my life and how much I hope to be like her one day. 

A Poem for my Mother

By Kristy Dempsey


If I were with you,
I would hug you 
and ask you to hold me close
and tell me how some days are hard,
like the day you rocked me in the wooden chair
and you cried too. 
I would say, “tell me again 
about the night I was born.”
And you would repeat the words
I’ve heard before, how the doctors said
I was dead, and how daddy prayed
and how when I finally came into the world at sunrise, 
I cried, and the whole room burst into tears with me.

If I were with you,
I would sit close 
and lay my head on your shoulder,
and think about all the threads used to knit me
in my mother’s womb,
how I am just like you in so many ways. 
A lover of words and story, 
coffee and pajamas,
salty air and seashells,
Autumn trees, 
grace and forgiveness and hope. 
I would think about broken knick-knacks,
broken hearts,
April Fool’s surprises,
and trips to the Emergency Room,
I would honor all the sacrifices
I didn’t honor back then. 

Today if I were with you, 
we would sit without speaking, 
because we would already know
what our hearts are saying. 
Those threads that run from you to me, 
those threads that are still knitting me into who I am
would speak the truth.
I would hold your hand 
and we wouldn’t need a single word.

© Kristy Dempsey 2012