Gremlin

You squirm beneath my skin
A itch I can't scratch without bleeding
You whisper the words I swallow every morning with my coffee
Remind me of the ties that still chafe long after the knot is gone

Sometimes in the stillness
When the rain runs cold down the window above the bakery
And the grey outside is the same grey I carry
I glimpse something I didn't ask to see

A single bird singing into the storm like it has no choice
A cup of coffee going warm in my hands at the counter
The sun coming up anyway
Defiant and indifferent and somehow enough

These moments don't erase anything
They just arrive
The way grief arrives
The way morning arrives

I'm still here to feel it
That's the whole terrible gift

--Vera