That They Should Grieve
For Alina Carere
That They Should Grieve
The crabapples,
so red today,
candied by the sun,
but cool still,
and firm on the branch,
and crisp on the teeth,
and sharp on the tongue,
and full of joy:
They have not yet learned
that they should grieve.
From Word to Word 
I’m so sorry about Alina, Luke. We never met her, a fact that seems so strange to me given the myriad overlaps between our Hermosa circle and hers, but if knowing Natalie is any indication (which I understand it is) Alina was a very gracious, kind, vivacious woman who will be tremendously missed by many, and this is a very fitting tribute.
i understand the feelings in this poem.
I find it very moving Luke, the idea that grief is a process of softening and sweetening, that in ignorance begins as firm and tart- the contrast that it comes off strongest when it is young and is enriched as it ages, and because it is not yet enriched it is not aged, because the assumption is that it starts off weak with most things and gets worse, you seem to say the worsening of grief is the enriching and enriching of things- the idea that once it has full grown it is ready for a pie to be set on the sill and it’s aroma lightens hearts- where before we winced and the latter is just the tip of honest mourning- the pie on the sill.
* Lightens hearts in the notice there is a rich and full, deep humanity that his emmerged that waited for it’s shock to be lent in wisdom to all, instead of throwing young apples in all directions and avoiding the strength to swallow the metamorphosis.
Thanks so much Luke. It’s beautiful.
-Natalie