You raise your cup again
to down the draft of grief
as you must drink it
every time it fills

If it provides
something that you need,
or if you need to drink
until the well is dry,
we cannot say —
this is not, it would appear,
one of those things in life
about which we have a choice

This is just the trek across the day,
any one of them, every one,
this is going through the motions or
it is the steady necessary traction
cleansing as it draws you
with the urgency of home
to your core.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 1, 2018