GRIEF Poem: In Absentia, by Lee Ann Price

Spider lilies brown, unfurling like crows lifting from a branch
in driveway light.

I knew mom would be late,
could feel it as I held dad, restless
in my arms, promise evaporated
before it left my mouth.

Weeks later in SoKo these same lilies bloom
as I rot quietly in bed
and make room for compost.

I think of how mom’s face looked
the day she died,
a memory now softening
under this empty sky.

I was told by a medium I knew her in several lifetimes
before this one, but now
it’s just spider lilies
and the sense
that my parents are missing
from the room.

I asked for a sign last June,
questioned my fragile life,
and now the lilies bloom
without pause, feeling
no different for the loss.

Author: poetryfest

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