carry my heart

Anna Ellis Brown and Geoffrey Eden Grant, Day Two

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

~e.e. cummings
from In Her Shoes, so shoot me, I didn't know it before

Four years ago, my daughter was born, out from under my heart and into this world. One year ago, my mother died. Her heart stopped beating and she slipped out from under my hands. Tonight, my oldest asked, "What happens to your heart when you die?" As we floated in the glowing pool, counting the stars, (Mama, how many did you get?), I tried to give an answer. But I hope she holds onto the glow, and the stars, and my heart, rather than my words.