There should have been
a silence large enough
to swallow the earth.
The sun should have refused
to rise.
The birds should have forgotten
what they were singing about.
Somewhere,
a mother was losing her daughter,
and the world had the audacity
to continue.
Lights changed.
Clocks ticked.
People bought groceries
and complained about the weather.
Somebody laughed.
Somebody fell in love.
Somebody carried a baby home
without knowing
that another mother
was learning
how to survive
the opposite.
I used to wonder
how the universe
could remain so ordinary
after something
so extraordinary
had been taken from me.
Eleven years later,
I still don’t have an answer.
I only know
that I have walked
through thousands of days
that never should have existed
without you.
And every sunrise
has arrived
without asking
whether I was ready
to live another one.
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