Since I started drinking mocha coffee
I been reminded of a poem I once wrote,
an’ that an open mic is open down shore now.
Ah, that’s a sign! If I can get up, I can go.
If I can feel, I can write.

I’m feelin’ better, but I’m still exhausted.
Couldn’t tell ya, really, if a release has begun.
I know I felt somethin’
before the Hail Mary
and the surge after your favorite
“Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.”

But maybe my emotion was numbed when,
“Now and at the hour of your death, amen”
your widened eye told us;
you knew what hour it was.

It takes three days for the brain to die, they say,
and ten for the spirt to lift.
So, I prayed the rosary by your bedside.
I played light music in your ear.
I was hopin’ you’d be calm
when Jesus saw you, the real you.

I talked to you.
I told you, that you would rise from the bed
An’ you might feel cold and alone,
but not to worry.
‘Look for your loved ones’, I said.
‘They’ve been waiting so long to have dinner with you.’

Maybe I’m feelin’ better,
maybe I’ll see you in a dream
but I will never be able to hear the song
‘Time to Say Goodbye” again,
without thinking of you – my dear mother.

PAULA CURCI is the Nassau County (NY) Poet Laureate, 2023-2024, and the radio show host of Calliope’s Corner and What’s The Buzz®. She is known for her performance aesthetic called: Posics™  She is the co founder of the Acoustic Poets Network™  and is a Journey to The Self™ Certified Journal Writing Instructor.