The Keening

On the mountain I began coaxing you

To want to live beyond me.

We didn’t agree on the untangling

So our moving up the mountain

And then down again was still

Simply me catching you with

Some confused imprecision

Still lovely, still loving. 

I got you to the hospital,

A two hour drive and all 

My tenderness

Thinking your digestion

Wasn’t operating as if you were

starved. Thinking you might 

Store my tenderness like fat

In your cheeks. 

How did you come to process

My love like that? 

There’s a moment when it’s not 

The child loving anymore.

I’ve always needed you to grieve that.

Althea Seloover, 2020