the end of gravity

When my daughter died
gravity ceased to exist,
if I didn’t hold tightly
I’d be flung to the sky—
blue to indigo to black
and join her with the stars.

For my sons I held on;
a free climber, clinging
to the sheer rock face
my reality has become,
desperately trying to keep them safe
knowing I had somehow failed her.

A small woman’s body
lying across a small stream
at the bottom of a hill.
How did she leave Earth without me
alone
so far away

Lisa Palmer
2005