Learning The World

Grief rides quietly on the passenger side

Unwanted company on a long, long drive

It turns down the quiet songs and turns up the din

It goes where you go, it’s been where you’ve been

And pushing your empty cart mile after mile

Leaves you weeping in the wilderness

Of the supermarket aisle

And in the late night kitchen light it sits in a chair

Watching you pretend that it’s not really there

But it is, so it is and you ask

Are you predator or friend

The future or the past?

It hands you your overcoat and opens the door

You are learning the world again just as before

But the first time was childhood

And now you are grown

Broken wide open, cut to the bone

And all that you used to know is of no use at all

The same eyes you’ve always had have you walking into walls

And the same heart can’t understand

Why it’s so hard to feel

What used to be true

What’s now so unreal

But it is, so it is and you say

I wish I were the wind so that I could blow away

Grief sits silently on the edge of your bed

It’s closing your eyes, it’s stroking your head

The dear old companion is taking up air

Watching you pretend that it’s not really there