Mother

 

Mother —
You are a green leaf
Swept from the tree by unseasonable winds
To wander the heavens like a star.
I pray for a day each year when we might collide.
In still water I search for your eyes.

Mother —
How could you have lived once and not forever?
How have we not gone everywhere together?

(Yi Lei, from “My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree: Selected Poems”)