I'm less than I was
when you knew me,
diminished now
by the loss of you.
Insides hollowed out,
scraped raw for a time
now scarred and numb,
emptiness filling the void
like a leaden stone.
Heart crushed painfully
somehow continues to beat,
spirit once buoyant
as a birthday balloon
now shriveled and useless.
There is no trust
that life will fill my glass
once more to overflowing,
Shakespeare's "Tomorrow
and tomorrow and tomorrow"
suddenly takes on
personal meaning.
he girl who once delighted
in flirtatious tete-a-tetes
is no longer the Innocent
blindly grasping
at delicious hope
against all odds.
The girl has become Woman
privy at last to a myriad
of Life's cruel jokes,
tripped unexpectedly,
shockingly by
Fate's outstretched foot
along the path
that I only imagined
I knew like the back of my hand.
Eileen Auger
