Mary,
a name that still lingers on the breeze,
like the soft rustle of autumn leaves
falling where the birds fly free.

I didn’t know you long,
but in that time,
you became more than a friend—
more than a passing figure
in a fleeting chapter of my life.
You became a grandmother,
and I loved you as such.

Your laughter,
a melody I still hear
when I close my eyes,
echoing through the years,
bright and warm,
like sunlight in winter.
You had a way with words,
with jokes that made the world
feel a little lighter.

These are poems for children and poems about children and their mothers, fathers, grandmother, grandfathers and extended families. 

The Desk
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

There is a child I used to know
who sat, perhaps, at this same desk
where you sit now, and made a mess
of things sometimes.I wonder how
he learned at all...

These are villanelles by Michael R. Burch, including an adaptation he calls a Trinelle or Triplenelle. There are also related poetic forms with refrains, such as the rondel, roundel and rondeau.

Villanelle: The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide...
was man born to sorrow that first day,
with the moon―a pale beacon across the Divide,
the brighter for longing, an object denied―
the tug at his heart's pink, bourgeoning clay?

Edgar Degas's painting 'Singer In Green'