<html class="apple-mail-supports-explicit-dark-mode"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 34px;">This Too</span><div><span style="font-size: 34px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 34px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At dinner—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Julnar and Lindsey’s house—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">good wine,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the kind of bread</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">you tear instead of slice.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife said</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the lump they found</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">tested </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">positive.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A fork clinked.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Someone shifted in their chair.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve all had hard times—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the brain bleed</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that made driving an adventure,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the divorce </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that took Camelot with it,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the bankruptcy</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that emptied the factory.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Outside, behind our shop,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">past the sawmill—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">two brown horses graze </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">in a field so generous and green.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I think of their stillness, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">then turn away</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to the dishes and the glasses.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">But she turns toward it,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">all of it—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">into the cold slanting rain.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This too, she says, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and reaches through the fence,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and finds</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a soft velvet nose,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a quick breath,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">warm against her hand.</span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 34px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 34px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Lewis Buchner</span></div></div></body></html>