I Said Yes

She asked me
if I thought she would be dead
this time next week.
I said yes.

I knew this,
but did not know this.

How else could I have answered
as if she had asked whether I thought
it was going to rain?

I said yes, and yes again,
lengthening that moment between us.
One last blunt truth-telling.
One last intimacy.

Laura Schulkind