'I AM IN YOUR WORDS'

While I am reading my new poem,
Several days after its completion,
It strangely doesn't seem to be mine,
But a reflection of someone else.

Alarmed, I search it more deeply
And get more restless when I see
A pair of eyes different from my own
Staring intently at me, and then,..

..As if I hear my mother's voice,
 Calling me out from those lines,
 'O, why do you search for me elsewhere,
 I am in your words, can't you hear?'

                           ....Portia Burton