Revelation

I really did see it coming,
slowly unfolding, my gradual
transformation from daughter
becoming my own mother. There
she is now, where I thought I
was. But the me I thought I was
appears to have dissolved. I
recognize her quirks and her
mannerisms, her frowns and 
her exhalations, her pains and
her fading presence. All somehow
assembled in my being. Was a
time my nimble fingers 
threaded her needle. When I
read for her the fine print with
careless ease. Even mothered her
late-born last child. Now that
child prepares for his retirement.
And I, regarding the face
confronting me in the mirror
marvel at seeing my mother, but
cannot explain to her enquiring
eye where her daughter is.