I have asked you out before
to lunch or dinner
but always halfheartedly
quietly relieved when you
reject my invitations
secretly glad for the
continued distance.

for years we have been
perfecting this ritual
of casual offers
followed by polite refusals
but I am getting too old
and too hungry
to find nourishment
in these empty acts.

so I am no longer asking
but am instead telling you
we are starting a tradition
lunch, once a week
a different restaurant each time
you bring him
your husband of fifty years
and I’ll bring her
my sister of thirty three
and we will figure out how
to again have meals as
a family.