shared grief is palpable, a tangible weight in the room,
and each of our hands are holding it up like pallbearers.
gently, solemnly, carefully, faithfully.
we're going in and we're staying as long as it takes.
there will be no looking for cues to jump out of the discomfort and pain.
there will only be silence and tears and laughing and tears and quiet and tears and questions and honesty and the speaking of his name without fear, and we will rest here because it is sacred land.
only leaving when our communal prayer of remembrance and mourning says it is time.