Flowers for My Mother

my dear mother
victim of war so bitter
 finds her light in summer tears
and why she cries I do not know
 but I feel her pain was sown so long ago
 and with her tears I fill my can
 to water my roots
and grow my flowers
that someday shall be hers
so that her eyes may rest knowing her petals have been carried
by brazen breaths of wind
and unyielding rays of sunshine
the ones she tells me to never refuse;
for there is enough light for all
by the stem that holds her head so strong
she tells me to stand tall;
 for the birds may not steal my seed
so when at solemn last
 a raven gardener may come
with shears that swiftly bring her to the Earth she may lay in a garden of her own
full of flowers
like me