I remember
her dimpled smile,
her blue eyes,
her gentle touch.
I remember
my mother,
the way she was.
COVERING MOM’S ROSES
Frost paints
the dining room window.
Outside
Mom’s rosebushes
shiver as the wind
beats on their
bare branches.
I search through the
dark basement
to gather ragged
potato sacks.
I wrap them
around my mother’s
precious plants.
Thorns pierce my hand
and blood drips down
the stem of the frozen bush
like the tears
on my face.
THIS IS NOT A LIFE
It’s early,
but I go visit Mom
anyhow.
She lies on the bed.
Her hair plastered
to the sides of her head.
Machines drip liquid
into her veins,
feeding her.
The roses in her vase
are rotting and
she’s
rotting
with
them.
THIS HAS TO BE RIGHT
If the doctors say
she’s not going to come back,
then shutting off the machines
wouldn’t be killing her—
it’ll just finish
what she has already
done.
MOM’S BIRTHDAY
The doctors take
Dad into another room,
leaving me alone
with the shell
of my mother.
I brush the hair from her face
and rest my hand
on her forehead.
I sit,
listening to the machines
as their parts move,
and I’m no longer afraid.
I bend
and kiss my mother’s cheek.
“I will always love you, Mom.”
I reach over
and shut
off
the machine.
When I open the door
to leave,
I notice,
I finally fit
into the shoes
my mother gave me.
Acknowledgments
With special thanks to
Kim Marcus, Jennifer Jessup,
Mark McVeigh, Melanie Donovan,
Susan Ambert, and Leona Trainer
for helping me make this book happen.
About the Author
Alma Fullerton was born in Ottawa and grew up in a large military family. She’s lived all over Canada and in Europe and now resides in Ontario with her husband and two daughters. You can visit Alma Fullerton and read her blog at www.almafullerton.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Jacket art © 2007 by Marc Tauss
Jacket design by Amy Ryan
Copyright
WALKING ON GLASS. Copyright © 2007 by Alma Fullerton. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition DECEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061972614
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