Today’s Poem: Here

Rhina P. Espaillat catalogues what remains

Poul Friis Nybo’s Woman in a Bedroom, c. 1927 (Wikimedia Commons)

In 2017, Rhina P. Espaillat published a sonnet titled “Here,” after the passing of her husband, Alfred. And it is as precise a description of what remains after losing a spouse as anything English literature has to offer: “Glasses, wallet, wife — / each item’s here. Though, useless as it i…