for my mother
Transparent, unadorned, this modest gift
………your friend the stained-glass maker made was stuck
………………by suction cup to the sunroom’s plexi door:
five lead-lined lozenges the size of Chiclets
………formed the vertical, and one on either
………………side, two transepts, fleshed out the cruciform.
Its bevels bent faint rainbows, painting bruises
………across the floor, your lap, your face. Bestirred
………………from chemo naps, you looked beyond the pane
to a clutch of hummingbirds: fiercely they fought
………and foraged at the feeder cantilevered
………………from the outer door, darting and diving,
vanishing, reappearing to tongue the sweet
………red nectar before the iridescent beauty
………………fled.
………………………Had flown.
………………………………………….When you gave up the ghost
and Dad the house, where did the glass cross go?
………I dismissed a trinket’s comfort, some redemption
………………after loss. And now I cannot find it.