I had not seen her in more than a year

Lowering her frame into my office chair

Gone was the stench of the lonely nomad

First time in four decades she was not sad

M'belly's all swollen, she said with a tear

God finally up an' did me sumpin' fair

No more crack or drink for me, she was glad

'cause m'daddy, bless his soul, 'll be a grandad.

Listen son, she says, no doctors, k?

Been by myself all along this way

Are you sure? As she stood up, I started to ask

On my desk she left a pipe and her daddy's flask

I smiled for one whole week straight

Until the call came of her eternal fate

"You were listed as her emergency contact

She died of a tumor, her belly ransacked."

I had not seen her in more than a year

Lowering her frame into my office chair

Gone was the stench of the lonely nomad

First time in four decades she was not sad.

This poem is in memory of a real woman. I think about her often.

Her situation taught me about homelessness and her living taught me about perseverance.