I’m trying to rush you out the door
to fit the visit with your grandpa
into the pocket of time
between commitments
while part of me wonders
how we got here
to this assembly machine version of life
pushing you along and filling you up
until it starts all over again
in the morning
but we really do need to go
and you are still sitting on
the dining room table
with your head in the vase of tulips
I can hear myself whining
which I forbid you to do
so I drop my bags
and climb onto the table beside you
I’m waiting for one of them
to tell me they’re the one
I should bring to Granny Daphne
and so we wait together
a rare and quiet pause
and I am almost disappointed
when one of the tulips
makes herself known.