The Weight

The Weight

I cannot carry the weight

I don’t know about you.

A man carries his child out of this world

As once he held him fresh and swaddled.

You could help me carry the weight

But you choose to ask me to carry yours.

A woman breaks silently her back sobs

No sound but its absence tears me open.

We could carry the weight together

Both the weights we carry, together.

A child asleep in a house full of smoke

But more than dreams carry her away.

A loss, another loss, yet another loss

What is there to gain by so much loss?

The coffins queue at the crematorium

All the finery of those left with added weight.

I cannot carry much more

I cannot, my strength is in decline.

The weight is not sentient.