For Mom

Honoring Jan–

The Barefoot Girl

(Lyrics to Like a Stone by Audioslave in italics, woven between the lines of an original poem.)

Shadows fade as pearls of dew blush . . . and there you led me on

unbridled, bareback, and barefoot

apple-cheeked and artless

ripples dimple the dark glass and water striders breathe their last

breaking her reflection

with pendulous bare feet and line

she casts . . . in dreams until my death

chasing mystic water rainbows

. . . lost in the pages of a book filled with brittle gray memories

bent corners frame her withered apple face . . . reading how we'll die alone

a marker saves your last page . . . on I read until the day was gone

. . . in regret of all things  

Buzzards plunge and pierce . . . the sky was bruised

tearing hollow remains . . . the wine was bled

. . . on a cobweb afternoon they strip the bones clean,

selling the spurned to the highest bidder

         essence of stardust

of snowcapped mountain and Round valley,

of purple camas and brown desert grass

of prairie wind whispering laughter

. . . and on my deathbed I will pray like a pagan. . .

to mantle and measure

with salt on my cheeks

in bitter sweet bliss

. . . in your house, I long to be 

room by room, patiently . . .

      for bare feet, slipped-off muddy shoes forever wait

 . . . in a room full of emptiness

for the apple-cheeked girl

                                                            I'll wait for you there

                                                                                                    like a stone

Jan Girard

November 5, 1936 - December 5, 2025

* Cornell, Chris (The band: Audioslave), Like A Stone 2002