Unforgotten

Unforgotten

she took
the road
most traveled
of housewife
and mother
of the 1960's

when the kids
grew old enough
leaving her
with no more
than her chores
and her husband
and open roads
for her future
in middle-age
and beyond
she decided
without deciding
to stay put
with her husband
and her lonely
chores

she's old now
and when i see her
she laments
how her children
and even grandchildren
are all grown
and gone
with husbands
and children
and jobs
and careers
of their own
while she remains 
mostly 
forgotten
and lonely
in her house
of chores

so i ask
how her grandchildren
are doing
to which she says,
"i really don't know.
i never hear."

so i ask
how her own
children are doing
to which she says,
"okay, i guess. i see them
for a little bit
on holidays."

if she sees them
on holidays
it makes me wonder
why it's so hard
to ask her children
how their own children
are doing
like where
they live
and what they're doing
to survive

the fact
it's not asked
in the holidays
or in a phone call
on any of the days
she's all alone
in her house
with her chores
makes one wonder
just how much
she really
cares
knowing
a call
and a question
are such trivial
expenses
for obtaining
what she believes
she wants

she laments
how she's been
forgotten
by her family
forgetting
how she never considered
how most of her life
ought to go

never considering
like most things
left unconsidered
how
remaining
unforgotten
might take
some decision
in how to remain
alive
in this world
as well as
in the minds
of others