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After He Died

“His mother finds comfort in knowing
he got to fall in love before he died.”
~ NPR News

The road, with its tall, yellow trees,
is what saves her. Day after day,
the woman walks it, believing
that somewhere she’ll come
to a place without pain.

Along the way, she notices things:
sunflowers and bronzed oaks;
sheaves of cornstalks rattling in the wind;
that russet color of chrysanthemums
exactly the color of Nathan’s hair.

The woman watches a patch of blue
revealed between parting clouds
and she wonders – did her lost boy
get enough of skies? And autumn days
and kisses under mistletoe,
summer nights with shooting stars
and campfires on the beach?

She remembers the joy in Nathan’s eyes
that last time – the day he showed her
his photo of a long-legged girl.
Did he have enough hours for them to love?

In another season she may admit truth
into her heart, in the green time of spring,
perhaps. For now, she tries to remember…
was it after he died when the falling leaves
became more beautiful than those
still golden on the trees?

When not writing, Sharon Auberle may be found hanging pictures and poems at her website, http://sharonauberle.blogspot.com. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and on-line magazines and in a variety of anthologies. She is the author of two books of poetry: Saturday Nights at the Crystal Ball and Crow Ink.