Blackberry

Comfort is the blackberry
you gather when you grieve
as each thorny revelation

bleeds the heart upon your sleeve.

Comfort is a blackberry 

you gather in your pain, 

sweet a moment in your mouth

then bitter once again.

Comfort is a blackberry.

You gather it alone

in the midst of wandering loss

that rips you to the bone. 

Comfort is a blackberry

you squander and you waste

because your pain-churned stomach

cannot abide its taste.