Reading Jack Gilbert on a Rainy Day

We that have lost someone
find each other

A little companionship with a book
takes an edge off of
the emptiness

Death enters
in muddy boots
tracks footprints in every room
Tomorrow will be the same

His wife was young
my husband old—
he too sometimes left a rose
on an ordinary day
a small reminder

It is nearly time for the roses
to bloom again
I will pick them now
take a few to the Liquidambar tree
where I left his ashes
Maybe the cold spring will ease by then

Bernice Rendrick