Orphan

"i'm an orphan now,"
he told her,
trying hard to stem the flood behind his eyes.

"i know, dad," she said softly.
"i'm so sorry."
and she squeezed his hand,
as he drove her towards her childhood home.

later, as the snow fell,
she listened to him share stories of his father,
some familiar and some new,
and paired them with her own memories of her grandfather.

the sadness was so overwhelming
that she leaned into her father
and wished she didn't live so far away.