Preservation

They talked about an old woman
who collected fruits and vegetables from the food banks,
took them home and canned them
one by one
until hundreds of jars lined up in her living room.
And she kept canning
for years and years
until her family finally put her in a retirement center.

And then someone dug a little deeper
and asked why.
It turned out that her husband had died
and while this woman grieved
maybe even in order to survive
she canned some of her years away.

I wonder if she can sometimes see those years
piled up like the old jars
in her new room?