Today she lights one candle for the birthday of her circle of friends.
She recalls how she gently delivered them all at once and joined their hands tightly together
Forming them carefully into a circle
Beholding them all with the nervous love of an inexperienced mother…
She held close the baby swaddled in a papoose, to free her hands
To hold the small fist of the toddler on her left,
Who clung to the four year old at her side…
Right around the circle she gazed with awe, recognising them from the photographs
Incrementally ordered, growing and aging in a stepped time-frame,
She knew quite well the lady affirming her connection to her right hand.
To look with love and silently affirm was all she could do
Before scooping them all back inside with a promise –
Grateful for the introduction to these familiar strangers –
She would behold them all again soon,
And one by one, she would hear their stories.