.. mommy grandma

enjoying the bliss,    
a mother remised,      
her child rearing days
past done,      
 
but one winter day,      
to her dismay,      
came the son  
of her fatherless son,     
      
“there’s no money to pay,      
but he must stay”,      
those obligated  
have up and all gone,     
       
his mom is unsteady,        
a drug at her ready,      
father is a king  
of prison pawns,      
       
the challenge not petty,      
paper thin as spaghetti,      
a neighborhood  
that is ruled by the gun,      
       
balance beam she stands,      
loosely gripping her grand,      
a slap into reality  
she is stunned,      
       
no safe place to run,      
a new old cycle begun,      
bearing a weight  
that feels like a ton,     
     
she will try once again,      
without the help of a man,     
       
raising the son  
 
of a fatherless son.