Cobalt blue enamel sky,
diamond studded crescent moon adorn
the gold locket of my charm bracelet.
Gift from my parents when I was young,
it holds the image of my mother
as she journeys to a place
without words or memory.
Dana, my one and only Baby Buddha,
told me when she was three,
“Someday, I won’t need you anymore.”
She is eighteen; it is her time
to explore the brightness of the stars
and the vastness of the universe.
As constellations move in the night sky,
My position is shifting.
I navigate my way in space,
holding on to the sacredness of love,
my own internal North Star.
Judith Lee Herbert has returned to poetry after a successful career in another field. She graduated Cum Laude in English Literature from Columbia University. She has a daughter who is a sophomore in college, and she lives in New York City, with her husband, who writes plays. She had her daughter when she was in her 40s.