To say thank you, for those moments
when you longed to have me
with you and I was away holding
an unknown hand, wiping a tear.

For those sacrifices that made
Dad’s pennies seem pounds,
and his saving filled our needs.

For those years when you
policed my sisters and me,
tended the garden, wiped
your brow, waited in silence,
for the ring of the phone.

For the love, that held out a glass
of hot chocolate on my return from the
cremation of your grand-daughter.

For all those moments when you
prayed for my safe return,
thank you mother!