Once
you were small
and I held your hand
over your protests
you moved beside me
as though you were an airplane
held back by clutching fingers
upon your wing
always you tilted away
from my earth-bound steps
and love

I never did learn
how to stop grieving
the distance
between us
how your embrace
held the space around me
but not me

never mind
me

widen your arms
to encompass
all the space that will be
not me
and fly

.