Life Goes On
Life Goes On
by Edmund Siejka
It was a wedding
Middle of December
Before Christmas
The hall was decorated in bright lights
And gay wreathes
It was a time to celebrate
A time of good cheer.
Seated at a corner table
The widow sat quietly
Watching and waiting
Alone for first time in her adult life
We were not related
They were my brother’s in laws
The father and I engaged in small talk during family gatherings
What the smart money would call superficial conversations.
They had five daughter and the family would laugh when I stumbled on their names
My wife said it was OK
After all we had two children
And their names were easy to remember.
At the wedding
The daughters were there
Attractive
Drinks in hand
Tight gowns
Boyfriends twisted on their arms
Dancing and dancing
In an uncontrollable frenzy.
My wife and I spoke to the widow
She answered in quiet words
But she was, as far as we knew,
In a place
Where memories patiently waited for her.
We left, not too early and not too late
My brother calling out
Take a wedding favor
A tiny gold bell
A keepsake of the wedding.
The bell is on my dresser
It’s tingling sound now quiet
I really don’t know what to do with it
For some reason I see the widow’s face
Etched in the gold metal
And I look away
‘Cause we all know that life goes on.
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