the shades were all down
when I walked up the long driveway
to their house. I could tell she was sleeping
well past the hour for her to get up.

For the first time
when I went inside it was still as
a winter night, after the snow has fallen. Nothing
moved. The door to her room was closed. I sat
there and I look at it. And waited in the silence.

For the first time
I looked at him since the incident. I could see
it in his face that it had been a very long weekend,
and that he was attending to her. I felt their
pain. And I felt drained. I was searching for something
to say to steady the man. But I couldn’t steady
even myself.