she knows what it means to drag a body up from the ground, from nothing taking sharp steps on the way care, love, giving, all knives beneath calloused feet and dirt-brown footprints
the black crepe is hung up in the corner out of the way of smiling life but always in the corner of your eye she has waited, frozen and unsure she has torn lovers apart in her despair, and mourned
she has made a feast of loneliness so none will go hungry there is always another to your right and another to your left no matter the laughter in the conversation, we all know what we're drinking
salt and copper and spoiled milk sitting in our mouths we look straight ahead stumbling forward, and she will catch us as we fall and she will free us from the dirt and she will embrace us as we are burnt and we will go on walking