When I was young 14
I lay upon my bed
Outside was Florida
Inside a thought unsaid

I began to meditate
Within my teenage brain
The world continues on
But I do not remain

A terror soon arose
My insignificance
Inevitability
Complete impermanence

Then a tighter breathing
Zero at the Bone
Screaming, screaming, screaming
Absolutely all alone

Into my little room
My mother frightened came
What's wrong?! What's wrong?! What's wrong?!
Calling out my name

I do not want to die!
I cried into the Night
But you're just 14 years old
Death is not in sight

She wiped away each tear
And smiled: you're ok, Todd
Profoundly comforting
Like the tenderness of God

Now I'm 55
The years did swiftly run
My mother died of cancer
In 2001

My fantasies are many
But none is more intense
That my mother and my sons
Might leap across the Fence

That somehow they could meet
My mom and these growing boys
My departed comforter
And my pride and joy

That which we imagine
According to William Blake
Exists in eternity
So if this is not a mistake

My mother and my sons
On Earth never sharing years
In the timelessness
Somehow still appear

Together in photographs
Of quantum artistry
Separated yet United
To be and not to be.