BookLife Poem: Mother of the Bride

a villanelle for the winding down of June wedding season

Mother of the Bride

I didn’t expect the quiet to fall

as full and as deep as it fell,

from everyday bustle to nothing at all.

I walk and I read and I stare at the wall

excreting a new kind of shell,

not anticipating the quiet to fall.

Suppressing the longing, preventing a squall,

mourning a loss, but covering well,

from everyday bustle to nothing at all.

Your joy was apparent, full grown from so small.

As you came down the aisle, I saw your heart swell

I just didn’t expect the quiet to fall.

Wrapped in the magic, I relive it all.

I’ll find peace in your bliss I can tell.

I just didn’t expect the quiet to fall

from everyday bustle to nothing at all.

-Carol O’Day