Birthday Weekend

my birthday weekend...
a tornado siren
through the sound of the rain

in my in-box, birthday greetings
and news of his death

~

R.I.P. Jim - June 6, 2008

I wrote the haiku/first link around 8:00 this morning, close to the time he passed away. The news reached me in an e-mail about three hours later. Jim was a very active member in my family's parish, and he will be missed dearly.

~

The first week or so of June is full of birthdays for my family. My birthday falls on the 8th, when we will also be celebrating my grandmother's--she turns 99 on the 10th.

grandma and I
on the nursing home porch
never so similar
as when my mother sits
between us

after ninety nine years
what more can we give her?
an afternoon walk
where she calls the apple blossoms
snow