Heaven✈️

( a Rensaku = linked Tanka )

✈️

before Corona,
Mother had stepped out of time
just before morning,

and into eternity—
It was brief, but beautiful

✈️

her journey blessed me,
and taught me about heaven;
I knew she was there

with the sunrise at her back,
and I’ll miss her till we meet

✈️

I, unplanned, arrived
when her first 2 daughters
were young women,

and so our parents began
to start all over again

✈️

free as a sparrow—
as a child I felt airborne
in the semi-arid

foothills overlooking
the valley sage and gullies

✈️

I was age three when
for my first flight with mother
and my fabric doll

on a local coastal trip,
hidden for a few minutes

✈️

The plane leveled off—
my face against the portal,
slowly through the clouds

angels flickered in their flight,
“I’m in heaven!” as I smiled

✈️

too soon, it was time—    
trips on 4-engine prop planes
can’t last forever

it was brief, but beautiful,
while I have come full circle

✈️