Shattered Glass

I set the table for a feast that never was,
laid out silverware of hope,
glasses brimming with almosts,
candles flickering in a draft I should have sensed.
I invited certainty, but it declined –
sent regret instead,
draped in my brother’s voice,
in the darkness of doors that will not stay shut.
I wrote my son’s future in ink,
but the page blurred,
damp with waiting,
creased under the weight of wanting too much,
or even just wanting.
I stood light, just for a moment,
and life clipped my wings for it –
shattered glass,
a sharp reminder
that expectation is a brittle thing,
respite a trick of the light.
I keep setting the table,
knowing the storm will come,
that hope is an expensive guest,
one that never pays its share.
© 2025 Eva Dias Costa · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International