Live and Learn

     She never knew a heart
could break,
easily,
quickly,
cruelly,
Shattered like ice after a 100 foot drop.

     Or the world that could
turn on her,
suddenly,
insensibly,
painfully,
The pop of a limb being dislocated.

     Or the haughty looks of those
formerly known,
rudely,
mortally,
awkwardly,
Embarrassment of the world who saw her defeated.

     Or the acidic empathy of self-contempt,
morbidly,
sadly,
silently,
The lethargy of being burned alive while paralyzed.

     Or the confusion of muggy, foggy
half-memories and feelings,
fiercely,
violently,
suspiciously,
Played out like the greatest debate of fact and myth.

     Or the attempt back to happiness,
failing worse with each attempt,
wearily,
weakly,
insanely,
Like slogging through slush that sucks at your shoes.

     Or did she know all this?
loosely,
fleetingly,
wryly,
Through the dimming light of eyes, slumping of heads.

     Warnings were there, come and gone,
slowly,
momentarily,
archly,
She never saw the illness through the symptoms.

     Trying to soothe the pain always,
naively,
eerily,
grimly,
Ignorant of the cause.

S.D. 2009 (original)