I have had my son in my life
twice as long
as I had my father.

My husband, thrice.

I’ve been motherless longer, too.

How long is grief?
How long sorrow?

We bury our dead, ashes to ashes, handfuls of dirt to say farewell,
but how do we fill the canyons of our mourning?
Hour by hour, day by day, year by year.
We are never the same,
touched forever by what we have lost.

And what of God’s grief?
How long will it last?