She came, needing to buy
a replacement for something
broken — accidentally,
unfortunately, sadly —
and then she began to weep,
her husband, not dead six days
would have known how to fix it
how to do all those things
and she did not,
and so she stood with me
weeping, both of us
and a wordless space
holding on to each other
no heroes,
trying again to breathe.
I told a minister a little about this chance encounter and said something like – what can anyone say? He said – I can tell you as a minister there is nothing you can say in times like that. It was an interesting day – one of those days when you wonder what the world is trying to tell you, and if that’s the case, why can’t it speak a little plainer.
Very moving.
I know precisely her experience. It’s a heartbroken place to be and it isn’t the burden of having to do those things yourself, it’s the unnecessary reminder that they aren’t there and never will be again.