by Jorge Pérez
Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: A Mother’s Day Poem and More
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO A DEAR AUNT
Happy Mother’s Day to a dear aunt,
A refuge from conditions and demands,
Perhaps because you have a different slant,
Perhaps because your love is free of plans.
Yet for whatever reason, you are there
More simply and directly than the other,
One with whom a child can always share
The kinds of joys too carefree for a mother.
Happiness can use a bit of room,
Even in the midst of an embrace.
Relevance requires not the womb:
‘Tis love and labor that replenish grace.
So do you play this secondary part,
Dealt not by birth but by the willing heart,
Aunt extraordinaire, whose love will bring
Years of memories that dance and sing.
GIVEN THAT WE’RE HAPPY TO BE HERE
Given that we’re happy to be here,
Remember what we’re gaining and we’re losing.
Admittedly, the moment is confusing,
Demanding sad farewells and well-earned cheer.
Underneath the moment is the motion,
A silent passage out to open sea,
Taking place regardless what may be
In front of us, a ritual commotion.
Of what we are, but little will remain,
Nor will we ever come this way again.
HOW CAN I HAVE A FIGHT WITH MY BEST FRIEND
How can I have a fight with my best friend?
The mountain blows, the landscape is destroyed.
A desert where there once were fields and gardens.
Black lava where flowers once brought joy.
And then shoots of grass come through the blackness;
Slowly love asserts itself again.
He calls, I cry, we go through days of whispers,
And fields once more grow lush in sun and rain.
Ah! but now I’m