There are no words

I spot her at the grocery store
Her son was killed in 9/11
She is tenderly picking out apples
And I am scowling at green bananas

I wonder if she has heard my news
She answers me
Simply by looking over her shoulder
She must sense a familiar desperation

She turns deliberately and comes over
With a strained but graceful grimace
Of painful knowing
She wraps her arms around my stiff body
Warmly, without asking

“There are no words,” she says to me
Holding me, my body starts to melt
“There are no words,” she says to me again
Pressing our broken hearts together
“There are no words,” she says to me one more time

Then she kisses me on the cheek
And releases me back
Into the world