The Berry Pickers

by Amanda Peters

If the spirit world does exist, it’ll be good to see those people I’ve lost. Be good to give them a hug and tell them I love them, tell them I’m sorry. I have apologies to say on both sides of the great divide.

It’s funny what you remember when something goes wrong.

It was that time of day when the sun starts making room for the night and everything looks ghostly.

But from the time the sun came up until it slipped behind the trees, taking hope along with it,

crow’s feet to mark the passage of time.

I was so filled with sadness that the tears started before I could even open my eyes.

a heaviness that comes with all endings.

“People will be someone other than themselves if they have people who rely on them,”

There was love in that house, but none of us really knew what to do with it.

so I tried to go back to sleep, but sleep wasn’t meant to be mine.

she would harness

the sadness. She would harness it and tame it and keep it still and quiet.

Words are powerful and funny things, said or unsaid.