poem for my sons when they are sick

I say a little prayer for you.  
-- Greg Brown

my sweet boys,
when you are sick
or sad or need me
like tonight,
feel my cool hand
on your fevered brow
even when I am not there
to dote on you

to pull up the quilt
and look into your eyes
rheumy and filled with watery grief
for the ache in your belly,
the ache in your head,
the ache in your bones
and at the touch of your skin
above your lonely heart.

I am with you
close as your breath,
close as your thoughts,
close as an embrace
of healing
and of joy
and of what only
this mother can give you
in prayer after prayer
with all that I am.