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.