debut Press Featured Writers


Dinah Serritelli

I stand next to you

As we look at me

On the bed

Of my ultimate journey.

You are crying

And I seek to comfort you

But you cannot feel my touch.

I wish I could tell you

That I am not there,

On that pile of rumpled linen.

You will reflect on

Me and who I was

Not realizing that

…I still am.

You will house

My relinquished form

In a box of polished wood

…lined in silken sheets.

Then you will bury

…the me you knew,

Many feet down into the ground.

And I will become simply

Your history.

A history that you will revisit

On special occasions,

With a bouquet of flowers

To adorn my stone.

Then after a point in time

Even this will slide,

As you grow and thrive

…into a more meaningful life.

My favorite song might touch you,

A photograph…of a healthier me,

Might laden your eyes with tears.

Once in a maybe, you will fix

…my favorite food, with a smile.

Sometimes you will think of me

Perhaps - in anger

For where I failed you,

And another time

Exaggerate my goodness

…to hold an audience.

As you dispose of what remains

Of the tangible me,

You will keep bits and pieces

And eventually disregard them.

For no other reason

Than life gets busy,

And time gets short.

You might suffer guilt,

Believing that sometimes

You appreciated me less

…than you thought I deserved.

You will also realize

That even surrounded by grief,

Life does go on

And you will survive

…and no! You didn’t.

You must look for me,

Listen closely

As I whisper

…how much I love you.

I will saunter softly

Into your dreams,

Believe that I am there

And know that I am proud.

Proud to have been your mother,

Proud of who you were,

Who you are

...and of whom you will become.

Now though, I stand next to you

As we look at me

On the bed

Of my ultimate journey.

You are crying

And I seek to comfort you,

How I wish you could feel my touch.

Dinah Serritelli was born in the UK and came to the United States as a young woman. Currently, she resides in a California desert community with her family. A prolific writer, Dinah is self-taught. A poet of many styles, she has a particularly wonderful talent for writing Narrative Poetry. Her poems themed in the Old West are a colorful joy to read. Dinah has also written a short series of poems about a cottage community. Each one of her cottage poems rivals, in words, the imagery made famous by Thomas Kinkade in his painted work. It becomes clear that in Dinah’s adept hands, words become her paint and the page, her canvas.

Debut Press is proud to present the work of Poet

Dinah Serritelli

“A Mother’s Farewell”