“This week has been particularly hard on all of us

and I’m not sure why.”

Maybe it’s because spring is the time for sharing

Pictures of the garden

Pointing out the blueness of the sky

And getting mango pops on a whim.

Maybe it’s because it’s hard to imagine

a vacation photo without dad’s face in it

To hear his laugh and the smiles etched

in time with no grief to behold.

Maybe it’s because I barely cried at the funeral

And months of backlogged grief finally

have room in my planner

Maybe it’s because he really is here with us,

Speaking through the dog’s agitation,

Cradling us when we don’t even know it,

though somehow we perceive it

So, when my mom asks, “Why?”

I can honestly say, “I don’t know,”

Be grateful he’s out of pain,

Wonder the same,

And absorb with new eyes

life and wonder around me