On My Own

 I have been a widow for fifteen years and two days but life has gone on.  A different life, to be sure, filled with memories, joys and sorrows.

Below is a poem I wrote a few years after my husband died.  It was published in The Widows' Handbook:

On My Own

On my own   

I have had

A leaky roof,

A flooded bathroom,

A water heater leaking gas,

A crashed hard drive,

Thousands of dollars in medical bills,

A lawsuit over business assets,

Debts to you, your friend refused to pay,

Squirrels in the attic,

A possum in the bathroom, 

A broken nose,

A hysterectomy,

Carpal tunnel surgery,

Cataract surgery,

Vertigo, 

And a hornet sting.

A new cat,

The garage restored,

The house repainted,

A garden planted,

Articles in anthologies,

A new book published,

A trip to France,

Visits to the Alhambra,

Troy and Gallipoli,

My picture on a calendar,

A blog with over fifty followers,

A date,

My hair grown longer,

My hair cut shorter,

And my seventy-fifth birthday.

There have been

Spring meadows sprinkled with bluebonnets,

Summer afternoons dazzled by heat,

Autumn doorbells rung by trick-or-treaters,

Winter twilights, hazy and dim--

And all without you;

Yet I still  go on

And on.