Love Poem by Ronnie Smith

Hot.
A mother and daughter
take a bench in the shade
and some time to recover.

The girl, maybe fourteen,
with Downs, is crying.
Sweat has run painfully
into both her eyes.

Mother, tissues ready,
dries her eyes,
dabs her teared cheeks and
kisses her fingers and hair.

And sings her comforting explanation
with promises of a better time
in just a few minutes from now,
while replacing the clean-dry sunglasses.

The girl smiles.
Then she giggles
as they hug their deepest hug.
Profound, like no other.

The love that created the girl
has been usurped forever
by one that must last for two,
inseparable, lifetimes.