Our Bond

Sometimes when we get close

we scrape at the edges

of grief and longing, we

let out great sighs, which

have no words to fill them

Sometimes in grief and longing

we grow distant, wishing, perhaps,

to spare each other from the same thing.

Then as we come together,

we notice how deep,

how strong, complex and tender

is our bond,

How much we are committed

to throwing our weight

into the small boat of our hope

and rowing with all our strength

that we may steer it, finally,

to the long sought shore.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 2, 2016