Today she dances

         
                   
she dances at his funeral            
in thanks for his life            
of sixteen years            
spinning down the aisle            
arms raised up            
free of his weight            
her broken heart            
thrumming the very walls            
           
we want to join her            
but we freeze, in awe            
of her grief            
her love            
           
in a just rage            
she will kick her mother to the ground            
and we'll stand fast beside her for having done it            
but that will be tomorrow            
her mother's lie is yet secret            
           
with no sound she'll cry hour upon hour            
clutching his ashes to her empty breast            
as we drive for days, no destination            
and watch her drink to stupor every night            
but he is not yet burned to dust            
           
and her call will come, ragged, raw            
from deep in the night            
and the side of some backroad            
she'll say she can't make it            
that the cliff looks like freedom            
like the only way home            
but not today            
           
today, she dances, already free            
as a child            
a mother            
an ancient            
her face serene, her eyes soft            
utterly beyond our reach            
and she never looked so lovely