Comfort
Irene Osborn
Clay
11 x 4 X 3 inches
Not For Sale
Collection of the Artist
Olympia, Washington
Roxanna Groves
Poetry
Olympia, Washington
Comfort
When I was small my mother’s arms held me completely,
wrapping my aching heart or scraped knee
close to her.
She was my blanket of stars
and warm green grass and all the leaves rustling in the trees over my head.
I grew out of small and those arms
could not hold both me and the universe.
Other arms welcomed me,
Held me tight made me safe
like a campfire in the dark, a place my heart opened like a rose or a dandelion or an umbrella in the rain, my shelter.
When they were small
I held them completely, wrapping their
bruised hearts and skinned knees
In the circle of my arms completely,
letting them go when the universe called. Life is a circle leading me back
to my mother’s arms. I hold her completely,
we are blankets of stars and warm green grass
and all the leaves in the trees and all the roses and dandelions, we are circles of comfort
In each other’s arms.
For Irene, Roxanna Groves, January 2021