The Airport and the Second Look

When they arrive at the airport and the poet has cleared the security check, she stands at a small distance from her mother and looks at her again. The security barrier subtly marks the coming separation. Seen once more, the mother looks even more frail — her face wan and washed-out, likened to a pale moon in the last, cold days of winter, a moon that has lost its glow. The image gathers up the earlier impression of age and lifelessness and intensifies …