…into gratitude

I am tip-toeing my way
through the fog of loss,
giving grieving its due,
reckoning back to all
that used to be,
yearning for one more
conversation
shared laugh
hand-held remembering.

When does it ease?
When will her smile
beaming out at me
from my bookshelf be
just a photo? When will
the last card she wrote me
in her singular hand
be just ink on paper?

Never.
May my sister
always startle and
surprise me
Into gratitude.