Life turns in circles,
Cycles within wheels
like Chinese ivory balls.
In front of your wide vanity mirror,
You looked at yourself
and sighed with a deep sadness.
I was beautiful once, you said.
You are beautiful now, I said.
careful to cover your eyelids with
a fine layer of light blue powder.
I waited for you to stop looking
at your reflection in the glass.
I'm getting old, you said.
You are as old as you feel, I said.
I am now the age you were then.
My girl is the age I was then.
Don't worry about the lines, she says,
As she brushes away smudged lipstick
from my mouth.
And I think of you.
How you worried,
How you do still.
I think about how beautiful you are
And were,
And I think of the circle of life.
- for mum, 2005