I can't say goodbye today

by Elva K. Österreich


I can't say goodbye today.
You are my hero and my light
my way to raise children and my nymph in the field.
You are my muse, my flower, my daisy chain;

Your smile resides in my laughter, your strong eyes
reflect in Estonian pools
Where your mother still sings
Your hair swings down my back every day and your heart bashes
up against mine wherever you are.

You are my mother, my aunt, my honor and my truth,
Chugging at my lines and holding my everything in your lips
with your loves who are my loves
your history which is my history
your past, which is my past.

I can't say goodbye today,
Can't look at your face and face you
I hold tight-so-tight to your beauty
I want to absorb everything you and put it in my cubby box
Where you will be safe, no departing, no more loss

I can't say goodbye tomorrow either
just forget it.


* * * * *

Elva K.  Österreich is a southern New Mexico journalist, poet, author and adventurer. She is editor of “the biggest little paper in the southwest,” Desert Exposure. Her first book, The Manhatten Project Trinity Test: Witnessing the Bomb in New Mexico, just came out in November. She serves on the New Mexico Humanities Council and is a member of the New Mexico Women Press Women. Elva’s poetry blog can be found at elvasworld.blogspot.com.