She Began to Wonder
Luck has not been with her:
Her husband died young,
and four children to raise.
Two grandchildren nearly died
twice. And she has never hit the lottery,
her numbers worthless.
Now elderly and unsure,
she is lifted by legend:
forty years of sorrow seem
attributable
to the return of plagues.
Suffering and hoping
are in-laws.
(Source: Conscience Letter 353)