Rosie’s Bones

by Cheryl Sommese

A raven hovered in the haze above—

unswerving

hastening fate.

She had always been a strong girl,

dragging me about the yard

as if I were

a vitamin deficient child

stricken with rickets:

a rod-lined spine arbitrarily

jostled

while shaky legs

and slender yet sturdy arms

fortuitously manage 

to subdue

such enviable brawn.

Her indoor persona was

markedly different,

meekness overrode native impulses

as mysticism channeled her

impressively strapping form:

profound wisdom telepathically

transmitting tales on

limitless affection

and valor 

and selflessness

and kindliness

and even loss.

But it’s her bones that resonate

in my head,

revealing merely a shadow of what used

to be.

Thwarting all promise of Supernatural Sundays,

she bravely albeit reluctantly

reconciled

to journey beyond

our love.