FOR YOU, MOTHER

     I have a dream for you, Mother,
     Like a soft thick fringe to hide your eyes.
     I have a surprise for you, Mother,
     Shaped like a strange butterfly.
     I have found a way of thinking
     To make you happy;
     I have made a song and a poem
     All twisted into one.
     If I sing, you listen;
     If I think, you know.
     I have a secret from everybody in the world full of people
     But I cannot always remember how it goes;
     It is a song
     For you, Mother,
     With a curl of cloud and a feather of blue
     And a mist
     Blowing along the sky.
     If I sing it some day, under my voice,
     Will it make you happy?  -- Linda Conkling