So That I Might Not Worry

 for Mother

​She agreed to move to respite care
with its unfamiliar view and borrowed chairs
so that I might not worry while on vacation. 

At ninety-seven, she did not
want to leave her home of nine-plus years, 
her independence, her schedule, her friends, 

but moved to the strange facility
with its new faces and unfamiliar rules
so that I might not worry.

While I thrived in the cockpit of our sailboat
with my husband of forty-three years, 
she nearly died. 

Today, we walked to our favorite bench
and listened to the song sparrows singing
so that I might not worry. 

Alongside frost-touched hydrangeas,
we spoke of things that mattered,
the song the sparrows were singing,

how the magnolia will lose its leaves,
how I must learn to let go
so that I might not worry.