Sorrow is the gift

God gives to teach us

what won’t last,

what will fall and be left

on the side of the road

by the mother lost

among refugees.

 

Sorrow teaches her

the value of screaming.

 

It will last longer

than bronze shoes,

longer than her baby’s

photograph.

 

Nothing else she loved

is left. The home in Poland

God bestowed? The husband

whose love was worth so much?

The baby?

 

The gift of everything is lost,

the way a penny is lost

in the dirt around her.

 

All that’s left

is the road she stands on—

that and the sorrow

He bestowed, the scream

that ends in screaming.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by bourgeoisbee