Grief is Not a Task

Grief is not a task. . . .
      —Gwen Flowers

to be moved out of, finished.
Grief is like lichen on the north side of trees
in forests of your childhood, subtle
with color, some very drab.
Month by month it will change
little, but

today a spiral shape has come
to this ridged trunk of Scots pine:
mustard seed color . . .
and you’ve stopped to look—
as you stopped as a child— remembering Father’s words
about lichen on tree trunks:
it will always point you home.