First Hanukkah Without Mom

nine candles lit against black background
For the first time
I will miss
The Hanukkah lights.
This year
The light of
The 8th night
Burned out
Hours before
Christmas Day
Will.
(I am writing this
In those in-between
Hours.)
 
My first
Hanukkah/Christmas
Without you, Mom.
I only just realized
That I never expected to
Feel so lonely
Ever again.
 
And, I wondered,
When did we each receive
That first glimpse 
Of Primordial Light
And is it possible
That a beam of it
Came with a cord
Connected to Mother
And now the bittersweet
Of sudden awareness
That it doesn’t die
When Mother does?
 
Yes,
Today I miss
My mom.

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