I dropped my daughter off at the airport last night
I dropped my daughter off at the airport last night
the younger one
with her feet barely in the halls of high school
I dropped her off at the curb
I dropped her off at the curb
though I risked to lock my car
and rush in through the sliding glass entrance
to sight the lines where her luggage would be x-rayed
point her in that direction
and give her a quick squeeze and a kiss on the forehead
and this was the Big Airport
in the big city across the Golden Gate
a dizzying test of
terminals lanes gates exits
not the smaller more friendly choice of landing strips
across the Bay to the east
she went to visit her big sister
she went to visit her big sister
at her university near the City of Angels
where the elder rented a small green car
from her campus, by the hour
and drove the long journey
across that charnel ground of dreams
to pick her up
and my heart has been aching
even those ribs on the left are sore
the urge to weep and wail
generating a strong pressure inside me
which I resist and argue with…
oh, it’s just a small thing, no big deal
yet just five years ago
she might have still asked me to color with her
with those fat Waldorf pencils
or snuggled up next to me on the sofa
in the softness of dusk
my Being threatens to burst
my relief at their capacity
both of them
is a living thing at which I marvel
but my youngest called me while I was still driving home,
“Mom, this is my gate but it says Seattle…”
so I told her to find someone in a uniform and ask them
though I knew this would be hard for her
with her careful shyness of strangers
and I added, half under my breath,
“be a Warrior
be a Warrior”
and I think she heard me
