she called it

her butterfly dress

my mother

 a young girl

in italy

twirling

carefree

spreading her wings

all the world before her

and

at her

happiest

before life

got challenging

and things

were

never the same

for her

and she

lost her wish to fly

and this is how

i want

to remember her

on this date

that was

both

the day

she was born

and

the day

 that she died

and

i still want

to think of her

twirling

and

carefree

at her happiest

in her

butterfly dress

—

the thing that interests me most about family history is the gap

between the things we think we know about our families and the realities.

– jeremy hardy