BORROWED LIGHT

We clap when something new begins.
First words. First steps. First days.
The camera clicks. We gather near.
Each little change feels worth the praise.
But no one knows to hold a last...
Until it slips away.

We never know...
we're living
the last time.

I watch you outrun my shadow.
Your hands no longer
fit inside mine.

I spent my life becoming.
Now I watch you do the same...
and almost ask you not to go.

Every time I taught you to walk...
I was also teaching myself...
to let go.

Each embrace... held the goodbye
I wasn't yet ready to know.

We never know...
we're living
the last time.

No one celebrates
the last bedtime story.

The last,
"Will you carry me?"

The last,
"Mom... watch this."

Because
borrowed light
never announces
when it leaves.

You were never mine to keep.
Only mine to love well.