- Vol. 09
- Chapter 04
![](https://visualverse.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/VV-Feb-2022.jpg)
Image by Yasin Aribuga
Painting my Mum’s Nails
I wait until she's asleep and her hands are still,
gently curled in her lap, before I turn them over,
place them palm down, fingers spread on her knees.
Lost to me in dreams, she stirs and sighs
as I stroke the brush down each slender, ridged nail
from pink half-moon to flaking, white-crested tip.
When she wakes, she will lift her hands
in front of her eyes, let them drift and flit,
drowsy as butterflies in a summer breeze.
For hours she'll sit like this, smiling
up at her fingers as they dance. Sometimes,
on good days, they'll alight on my face.