Kisses For My Children

If tomorrow
were the last day
in this kingdom
of ordinary time
I’d want to know,
want to have the chance
to say goodbye to all my children,
touch them on the soft skin
of their beautiful faces
and kiss them each on the mouth,
release them from the wonder
of not knowing how much
they are loved in this life
by one woman who held their souls
open to the light.

This is the inheritance
I must leave them boldly
before the time when they feel gravity
or the tilting of the earth
away from the sun.

When so many need a yes or no answer,
there will be no question
of yes.

Lord knows I’ve stumbled
on things and into people
I should have known how to avoid—
to pass by without the need to grab a handful
and fill my emptiness with slow poison.
Everyone knows that love and wisdom
are the cures for that addiction.

And it is love and wisdom
I will leave in the awake kisses
on the mouths of my children
and no one will take away from that place
in the bone that remembers truth
like a song or a poem
or the look of loving kindness
in my eyes
as I say goodbye.