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Afterward, we want to say,
But can’t we do that over?
Say, But it was a mistake!

Ask, wanting some other
answer: It’s forever?

And sometimes, though all
light is slanted—as in autumn,
though it isn’t autumn—
and all the earth lies tilted,
we cannot say the light is so,
the earth askew—for how
are we to live, how find hope,
if light itself is altered,
the earth not on its axis?

Grief is lonely in these ways,
begins in just such tearing: we were
nested in this earth; and now
are not. Knew this life by cherished
habits and have lost them.

From her book, Instructions in Joy, published by Skinner House Books in 2002, and available through the UUA Bookstore.

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Rev. Nancy Shaffer

Latest posts by Rev. Nancy Shaffer (see all)

• Blessing for Bodies - February 1, 2017
• Afterward - May 1, 2015
• Offering for Grief - October 1, 2014