For My Mother On My 72nd Birthday

Mother is a Verb.

“Mother is a verb, while Daughter can be nothing but a noun.” ‹1›

Here am I on my birthday, thinking of, invoking, my mother. Oh, how she verbed me!

I need a son verb. More—I need to be it! To love her as I Know she loved me. Until then, I’m only a noun.

‹1›Estelle Jussim, The Eternal Moment, New York: Aperture, 1989, p. 192.