Love Lives On
by Michael Doyle

Driving around the middle of the nation
Trying to stimulate my daughters' imaginations
And love for seeing the beauty of this nation
Like their grandmother would have; if the situation

Had somehow allowed this to follow
If she had thrived; but somehow I'm just a shadow
Of all that she could have been with her artist eyes
That would have painted every bend's surprise

Today marks the anniversary of her death
And it saddens me; taking away my breath
While at the same time, making me happy
As I realize that her soul is with us on every journey

I love their excited eyes as we go to explore
Kindling the fire of wanting to see so much more
As I retrace the steps, she would have chose to reveal
And once did for me, so many years ago, and still

I add my something of difference in their day
Realizing a garden of dreams along the way
Letting each blossom bloom as if meant
Into the new, maybe bolder dreams to be dreamt

Making lists of music, movies, and food to eat
That maybe they would have had, if they could yet meet
The artist and dreamer who once opened my eyes
To so many pleasures and happiness to my surprise

Wiping sleep and tears away from a young boy's eyes
Teaching me to love without remorse or compromise
And showing her son a world meant to explore
Looking for that something better and something more

I think of her on the anniversary of her too-soon death
How she looked up at me, even with her last breaths
Telling me that she was tired and filled with pain
And like my grandmother before, long for West Virginia's rain

I wonder if she's smiling that I shared this home
Driving through the rains of West Virginia, with them, not alone
But with the two hearts that she wished she had met
She whispered that it was one of her only last bits of regret

In the places we eat and places that we see
I feel a bit of my mom living yet still inside of me
As I watch my daughters' faces at these traces
Of their grandmother's memories and her traces

     ...And I know that love
              ... her love,
                 ... lives on

And still I miss her with my falling tears

(c) July 11, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved