Woman to Woman

Woman to Woman

The first gathering was very somber.
We had never met before.
We made our introductions,
Then we sat back and stared at the floor.

Some were twenty years older than me.
One was twenty years younger.
We found ourselves in the same sad boat.
"Why are we here?" we wondered.

Each one of us had suffered a loss.
Each had lost a spouse.
And each was facing aloneness
In a suddenly empty house.

Why has this thing happened to me?
What's this all about?
We looked at each others' faces
Trying to figure it out.

We shared our stories of sorrow,
And offered each other support
And even managed a smile or two,
Camaraderie of a sort.

We all could feel some small relief.
We no longer felt afloat.
We could share our similar stories
In our very different boats.