A Number of Things

A Number of Things

Robert Cording

I understand a number of things about grief—
that it can come on in a suffocating rush
when some sentimental pop radio song releases
a memory of my son; or, that walking the streets
of some city, I’ll swear he is walking right toward me
until his face turns back into the face of a stranger.
That some grief, even if manageable over time,
will be suffered unto death.
I’ll never understand
why I can be saved by a half dozen goldfinches
yellowing the air around the feeder; by a child
making a funny face in a car window or a monarch
sitting lightly on a cone flower; by what goes on
wondrously when I cannot be part of it, but is
there waiting when I can; by the way the tears
run down my face in utter joy, in utter sorrow.

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Robert Cording
Poet & Professor

Robert Cording taught English and creative writing at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He has published ten collections of poems, the latest of which is In the Unwalled City (2022, Slant).

Photography by Pavel Nekoranec