Helen Louise

I am thinking of Grandmother

who confessed to me at age 65

I have never spent one night alone.

She was standing in my doorway

and the light was falling. I was

saying you really don’t need to go.

But she did and was. There are

imperceptible moments when your

soul slips quietly into another room

while your body lingers. Mine did

and was. You find out later. I have

and do spend many nights alone.

Grandmother is long gone. She

never told me what she discovered,

whether she was frightened or contented,

whether she was at one when she

walked alone through her doorway

amongst her many rooms.