Peggy Hammond

Distance

Crossing a bridge in Seville, 7 a.m.,
we head toward coffee, meet
a girl in a blue dress, high, high
heels, last night’s party just ended.
Her friend loops his arm through hers;
together they smile and whisper.
To be that young, I remember.

The season of daffodils
is not easy. Cold rain, blue mornings,
light snow. Those were signs enough
for your leave-taking.
Chemo, that indifferent poison,
slowed but did not stop
the secret within your cells.

In Paris, I try to forget I am motherless;
the city makes it easy to breathe
again. Stones soaked in history.
My mind shakes away its fog.
Blue baubles on Christmas trees
reflect late-night passersby. This year
hurries to its end and we are ready
to see it go. The evening rain
mumbles through old gutters,
the Seine in its sight. Stars brush
aside clouds and for a moment
the world is quiet.

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Peggy Hammond’s recent poems appear or are forthcoming in UCity Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, River & South Review, Roanoke Review, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, The Spotlong Review, ZiN Daily, Ghost City Review and elsewhere. She is a Best of the Net nominee, an Eric Hoffer Poetry Award nominee and the author of The Fifth House Tilts (Kelsay Books, 2022). Learn more at https://peggyhammondpoetry.com/