in certain cases, real deprivation occurs while a parent is alive. 
the permanent deprivation conferred by death 
may seem then a liberation: it is
the late-arriving explanation 
or justification for absence.

by extension, in providing a cause 
for what has long been lacked, it releases 
the child from a sense of culpability.
finally, the outside matches the inside. 

signals that the truth is not to be
demanded, nor established deceits 
queried, give rise to feelings
of extreme precariousness or danger.

cataclysmic disappearance has been replaced 
by perpetual absence, 
an even replaced by a mood.
loss is the routine condition now.


louise glück,
estrangement.