All I Knew of Love Then

Maria Elena Barr

They were all I knew of love then. A beautiful young girl, and a young boy with twinkling hazel eyes. They were my mom and dad, upon which my world did shine.

I never got a kiss, or a hug from them, much less a Valentine. Yet sure was I of their love. Constant, as when I lay my pallet on the floor at night and gazed up at the heavens. I knew that the moon and stars would shine, steadfast, like their love.

My mother rarely hugged me, but of her love I was certain. Like the night when I felt her heart beating as she held me in her arms for hours. She prayed, and with her hand she fanned my face to cool my brow when with Scarlet Fever I lay dying.

My dad never said I love you, the words I love you were never spoken. Yet, I felt his love in every word he spoke in the old cuentos about a mythical bird that flew high in the sky. A story he told often to help lift us up from the misery of working in the cotton fields. His stories made me fall in love with words …......

I never got a kiss, a hug, or a Valentine, from them. Today I would trade all my Valentines, my champagne and my roses to feel once again, my mom's heart beating close to me. Oh, to feel the joy and to hear once again those magical, beautiful wonderful words in, dad's made-up stories about a bird, that flew high, high in the sky.