My Mother’s Darkness

I wonder sometimes if she saw it coming,
my mother who
while living in Davenport

with my father, interrupted one night
their routine
of walking through the park

and couldn’t say why, only that she knew
there was something bad in the trees
and the next day,

some girl’s body found, cut up and raped.
My mother, who always knew.
My mother, whose last statement

to me or anyone else

was a small, simple thank you
for walking her upstairs
and switching on the light.