Sadness

Sadness sits in my grandfather’s throat

As he refuses to let grandma go

It sits in his every shaky breath after

Sadness could never shake my father’s breaths

So it takes up space in his eyes

Every time he talks of the home he was born in

Anger lives in my mother’s eyes,

And nose and everywhere else

So Sadness takes up her whole heart

Sadness dips its toes in me

And leaves playful ripples in a dry well

Then a firm foot on my surface

As it dances and dances

It forgets it must not violate itself

Sadness dips its toes in me

And decides it won’t mind drowning