LOVE YOU

So often she ends her conversations with a chirpy "love you"
And without thinking, whomever she's talking to, answers
in kind, says something like, "back atcha" or "me too"
For no matter how often the words ring in the air, most
are caught by surprise by the two little words that hang there

Why is that, her mother wonders now, when she no longer
hears it...Was the insincerity there all along and she, rightly
suspicious, never having an answer, was always astounded
Then again, maybe it's only her, the mother, that found
this habit an oddity; maybe that's part of what's wrong...

Maybe not ,who knows, the mother questions everything
now - her memories, ideas, even the way she breathes.