Warm Honeyed Love

"hi there, sweet pea,"
their voices rang down the corridor
and she saw their familiar waddles
before the sound of their combined greeting
filled her ears.

"hello, ms. pat. ms. queenie,"
she called in return, smiling.

and so it was like this every night
and had been for months.

because just when she was entering
a new chapter of her life,
filled with so much raw newness,
they were there to catch her.

and the warmth she experienced
from these women
was like nothing she'd previously felt.

she could only describe it as
being enveloped in a warm, sweet honey
which buoyed her pain and
slowly healed everything.

and she, in turn,
surrendered everything for this nightly dose
of grandmotherly love and
declared it better than another other balm
she had ever known.