Wives and Mothers

Wives, it is, who bury their husbands
and mothers sons
as told in legends of war; 

 but not just war:
a search for a wounded boar,
spear raised too late.

 We listen and are not surprised. 
Such tales seem right.
Death, we know, 
is more than willing to happen;

 Then a son is lost or a husband.
Now it is our wives that are burying husbands
and our mothers sons.