Funeral

And so the bees became widows
But this was not enough for us.
We had to decimate their longing too.

In fields of poppies, the hives dried their tears.
Autumn arrived with its smoke & sorrows.
We remembered childhood but it only angered us

With its purity. You know the heart.
Its wasps hold endless stingers. Or does it only harbour
One simple, irredeemable wound in it.

No, you won’t understand until it’s too late.
And winter has snowed in
All the honey of our lives.

Catherine Owen has published 13 collections of poetry and prose. Her work has received grants and awards and been toured nationally. Her upcoming compilation of memoirs is called Locations of Grief: an emotional geography. “Funeral” is from an MS titled The Letting Go Poems.