When I grow up

by  Patrick J. Horan.   February 2023

When I was young

my mother would cradle me in her arms,

kiss me.

and caress my face

while telling me how much she loved me.

Together we would talk

of all that I would do when I grew up

and how that would make me happy.

Because we were poor,

and she was a simple humble Irish woman,

I have long since achieved those goals

seeing,

            doing,

                        and accumulating,

what we both thought,

in our innocence,

to be almost unobtainable dreams.

Now, grown up and planning for retirement,

I have learnt the one great truth

that my mother showed me instinctively

as being essential for my happiness and wellbeing

but that we did not include in the list of my goals to be achieved;

that for me to be truly happy

I need the woman I love

to take me daily in her arms,

kiss me,

and caress my face

while telling me how much she loves me.