after the fifth day of november

note: partially inspired by Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" 

        and  for my mom 

i want you to sit and stare at the glistening horizon. 

i want you to hear the wallow of the gulls, 

the weeping of waves as they hit the shore, 

the quiet anguish of the setting sun. 

i do not want you to tell me it will be okay— 

i do not want you to think the world is mourning with us. 

because it goes on— 

the sun will wake and the earth will spin for another day. 

i know this is not the world you wanted to leave me. 

but we can listen to sinatra if it reminds you of home and i will plant daisies into the sand and water them until they can stand on their own.