When I grow up
by Patrick J. Horan. February 2023
When I was young
my mother would cradle me in her arms,
kiss me.
and caress my face
while telling me how much she loved me.
Together we would talk
of all that I would do when I grew up
and how that would make me happy.
Because we were poor,
and she was a simple humble Irish woman,
I have long since achieved those goals
seeing,
doing,
and accumulating,
what we both thought,
in our innocence,
to be almost unobtainable dreams.
Now, grown up and planning for retirement,
I have learnt the one great truth
that my mother showed me instinctively
as being essential for my happiness and wellbeing
but that we did not include in the list of my goals to be achieved;
that for me to be truly happy
I need the woman I love
to take me daily in her arms,
kiss me,
and caress my face
while telling me how much she loves me.