There You Are by Victoria Adukwei Bulley

There you are 
this cold day 
boiling the water on the stove 
pouring the herbs into the pot 
hawthorn, rose; 
buying the tulips 
& looking at them, holding 
your heart in your hands at the table 
saying please, please, to nobody else 
here in the kitchen with you. 
How hard, how heavy this all is. 
How beautiful, these things you do, 
in case they help, these things you do 
which, although you haven't said it yet, 
say that you want to live.

~ From Quiet (Knopf, 2022)