A Poem

I was in an English Composition class a few years ago and our homework for the next week was to write a poem about something or someone meaningful to us. I chose to write a poem about my mom who died in 1978. I titled it "1978." I know it's not a very creative title but...

Anyway, here it is.

“1978”
Copyright © 1998 by Marcus Moore


The last time that I
Talked to Mom was 1978.
“You’re gonna be a grandma soon!”
She said she couldn’t wait.

I told her we were doing fine
And hoped that she was too.
And then she asked if there was
Anything that she could do.

I told her “No, we’re fine right now,”
That all we really wanted was to
Have a healthy baby and
“To bring him home to you!”

The last thing that I told her
In that phone call from Japan
Was “I love you and I miss you,
And I’ll see you when I can.”

It was only three days later
In the middle of the night
When the pounding at the front door
Interrupted slumber’s quiet.

The Red Cross chaplain and his aid
Were standing in the rain
And the news they came to share that night
Would cause us both great pain.

“Your Mom is sick and we don’t think
She’ll make it through the night,
So please pack a bag and come with us,
We’ll get you on a flight.”

The flight across the ocean
Took forever and a day.
And not knowing how sick Mom was
Caused us both to cry and pray.

Mom died before we landed
So she never heard me say,
That I loved her and would miss her
Every second of every day!

My mom’s still affecting people
by the way she lived her life.
For me she was the perfect mom,
For dad, the perfect wife.

My mom claimed Jesus as her Lord
And every day would pray
That all her friends who were not saved
Would one day see ‘the Way!”

She never got to meet my son
It breaks my heart to say.
She never got to see
The fine young man he is today.

My mother is in heaven now
And I can hardly wait
To introduce her to her grandson
Who was born in 1978!

I miss my mom terribly. She's been gone 31 years now and I can tell you that I have thought about her every single day since the day she died! Most days I think about her multiple times and there are days when all I can think about is her! She was that special. I can be talking to someone who knew her and before long they are in tears! She's been gone 31 years and her memory still brings tears to peoples' eyes! She was that kind of a person. She hated no one and no one hated her!

I love you mom!