Afterwards

The morning after he came home from her service

He noticed a strand of her white hair

Upon the sink, where she would once have wiped it clean.

His first impulse was to brush

It into the trash, frail reminder of his loss.

Instead, he located an envelope

Put her hair in it as if he’d mail it to her.

He saw her hairbrush on their dresser

Both black and white hairs were tangled in its bristles.

He gently pulled them out and put them

In an envelope. He found another strand near

The bedstead where she had read each night.

He found a black strand stuck in their kitchen cupboard

Under one of her teacups. Careful

Housekeeper when she was healthier, she’d have been

Aghast at his small discoveries.

He smiled as he imagined her expression

If he’d shown her the envelope; nine

Hairs, saved from a time when she drifted through their house

Now sealed in white, safe from time itself.