?????

Sometimes in the darkness,
I hear a voice call my name.
But when all is silent in the daylight
I fear it was just a dream.
Once in the shadows I believed I saw a woman
I knew I should embrace her
But with a trick of the light she was gone
Sometimes I peer into the darkness
And I am greeted by a smiling face
My heart tells me I know this face,
But I don’t remember.
In the afternoons they tell me stories
Who she was, what she did
hey say she was my mother
She’s supposed to be a memory
The hope to fight the hopelessness
The one comfort that I carry
I’d like to say I knew her
But that would be a lie
For if I truly knew her,
Surely I could cry.

Tara Johnson
1996