Dear Poetry Friends,
I am posting on my phone because I’m having trouble connecting in a hotel room. I’m visiting my mother who is in the end stages of Alzheimer’s. This time is filled with hard and love, tears and joy.
Heidi challenged the Inklings this first Friday to choose a prompt from her Yule calendar. Since I spent last week in the company of my grandchildren, I was drawn to the prompt “Capture the sound of laughter in rhyme.”
I am taking delight in watching my grandchildren laugh. This poem is dedicated to my granddaughter, June, who was two on Dec. 21st.
De-Light
I taste a note of nutmeg
on my tongue, a slight burn
while I yearn
for sweetness,
and your song“Happy Day Day”
your two-ness
of delight candles to blow
ribbons flowtwisting into this gift
of a child shifting,becoming laughter.
Margaret Simon, draft
To see how other Inklings wrote to this challenge:
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Mary Lee @A(nother) Year of Reading
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Reflections on the Teche 
How can June be two already? What a little sweetie. I can imagine hearing Happy Day Day. Your grandchildren are so lucky that they have a relationship with you that’s full of fun and love and activity and laughter. Happy New Year to all.
I am grateful for their love every day. You just wait!
This such a difficult time for you and your family. You are finding joy in your grandchildren. Sending peace.
“Your two-ness of delight” captures this sweetheart (and that age) perfectly. Thinking of you as you travel the hard road with your mom.
Thank goodness for the light of sweet June-bug in these dark times for your family. Hold onto the laughter!
Oh, Margaret. The combination of hard and love is so evident in your post. My heart goes out to you and your family. I hope you’re finding some moments of loving connection during your visit with your mother. Meanwhile, I’m so glad that your grandchildren lighten your world with laughter. Your poem is so sweet, and I really like how you played with sound throughout it.
Thanks, friend. I am having some moments of joy with her. Today she said to me “You’re home!” I treasure each moment.
I am sorry for your “hard”, Margaret, and love that you chose June’s “Happy Day Day” for some laughter, bringing us all to what life gives us and what it takes away. My next-door neighbor is going through a similar time with her mother, and she tells me that all they can do is love and keep going. I wish you good memories of your dear mother during this tough time.
Thanks for your thoughtfulness. There are glimmers of her still here and she is getting good care. I’m trying to live in gratitude. Grandchildren help!
Margaret, June is adorable and her cake looks really yummy. A child’s laughter is such a lovely sound. Your poem certainly is a good one for Heidi;s prompt, Capture the sound of laughter in rhyme.
I know that it is hard to see your mother but it is an important part of your life now. May the Lord bring you grace to bless each visit.
Dear Margaret, thinking of you and your family. And thank you for sharing June! xo
Ah Margaret, I resonate with your words “hard and love, tears and joy.” in the last days with my mom. Your family and you are in my prayers. I love this pick of June Bug! Those chipmunk rosy cheeks, rosebud lips, sandy-blonde soft hair, and her happy two-year-old expression over her pink sprinkled birthday cake are precious-pure joy. Thank you for sharing.
Oh Margaret, I’m glad that you had June’s De-light to carry you into this other part of our season of walking with our parents. Love is hard. Yet, we wouldn’t have it otherwise. xoxo
June is indeed a de-light! Hoping that her light will counteract at least some of your dark.
Thank you for sharing your load with us, Margaret, and your joy. “Happy Day Day” may be a saying I take up. June is precious!
LOOK AT THAT MORSEL OF NUTMEG JUNEBUG SWEETNESS. Every little laugh that comes out of her is rhymes with love, doesn’t it? You did right to visit that in between times with your mom. Some light from each end of the candle burning.
Oh so much heartache (your mom) and joy (your granddaughter). Wishing you a beautiful 2025.
Lovely ribbony-flowing poem full of hope and light, glad you could momentarily escape in the laughter of your grandchildren. Sending hugs and thoughts for you in thinking about your Mom.
Oh, Margaret, I’m sending so many hugs to you during this hard (but full of love) time with your mother. I still wear the purple bracelet you sent me (and which my mom commented was so pretty ❤️ ). Although my mother’s dementia, before her passing last spring, was vascular, not Alzheimer’s, I understand some of what you’re feeling and I’m sending you lots of love.
I’m glad June is a joy and a comfort to you, now and always.
Margaret, June is so precious, and the joy in your laughter poem is “de-light”ful. I love the rhymes and the fun in the poem, and in the midst of the goodbyes and the pain of end stages of Alzheimer’s I’m sure your grandchildren are a balm for the soul. Peace to you, my friend.