What She Leaves Us

            2007 - 15 x 18 - edition of 25 -$250

What She Leaves Us

All that time

we had been making something invisible

at her direction,

the way a spider finds

inside herself

the makings of a home

in every circumstance;

a way across what looks

like only emptiness.

All that time

as her body dimmed

and as her spirit caught a light

we could not see without her,

we moved and stumbled

at her cue,

stepping in and holding,

stepping back again

out of her way.

All that time

she let us help her

weave this net,

less, now we see,

to guard the safety of her crossing

than to hold us to each other

afterwards,

after her hand had slipped entirely

from our grasp.