lie down with me

Do they know that someday they will sleep alone?  All alone in some dreary place away from everyone who loves them?  Isn’t this a certainty, one time or another?  The first night at college?  The night after the end of a love affair?  The airport hotel in some faraway land?  At least they will have this memory of their mother, on her birthday, forsaking her nightly sewing in order to snuggle in beside them, if only for a moment.  Do they know?  Is that why they tug at my hem, coax me in with the warm, aching scent of their little future selves?  Are they adding to their stash?  Or are they adding to mine?  For the next time I have to sleep all alone.