The Widow’s Nights
“Days are not so bad.
My volunteer work.
Lunch with friends.
Gardening.
All of these fill the daytime hours.
But it is the nights—
they are so long, so very long.”
I don’t know how to respond.
We smile at each other in
a moment of silence.
Then, she adds, “If you have
any alterations you need done,
bring them over. I don’t sew
regularly now, just for friends.”
We part.
When I get home, I search my
closet for undone hems,
missing buttons…
anything in need of long
stitching to shorten a widow’s nights.
