Lost Opportunity

Lost Opportunity

I stand here washing the dishes 

and I sigh 

For all the times 

my mother washed 

and I did not want to help her, 

but I had to. 

I sigh for those moments 

I wished to be elsewhere. 

I sigh for those moments 

I could have spent with her in bliss. 

But, at least we were together. 

I did not understand 

the enormity of those moments 

as she instructed me 

in the ways of the world, 

and the code to live by 

floating in the air 

like bubbles of soap. 

Marsha Salerno