(for Mom)

This could be your big chance to finally meet him,
you, who swooned from his Sundance Kid days,
imagining yourself as his leading lady in every film.

And if, as you postulated, we give up these bodies,
morphing into bits of energy zinging around
the universe, then how easy it might be for you,

who got there first, to brush up next to the essence
of what used to be an actual movie-star handsome
movie star—casually, no big deal, not saying a word

(because who knows if y’all speak in the after),
but somehow welcoming what used to be him
into forever, as so many must be doing,

especially his equally blue-eyed buddy who teasingly
stole Sundance’s onscreen woman, and, despite
the song, raindrops did not fall on anyone’s head.

They played bandits and con men—we didn’t care.
Our hero carted his fame high into the mountains,
became a champion of the environment—

not that he ever wanted applause for that either.
Up there in the wherever, you might exist as
a couple of anonymous bright lights among billions.

But should you two luminaries bump into
each other, say hi for us down here, will ya?
We miss you. We really do.