So Long Without

 
She clutches a dinner roll
wrapped in a plastic bag
to her chest, under her shirt.
She nods off and then
when she wakens, calls out
for food, for coffee, the real
thing, not water stained brown
and drowning in sugar.
In her mind the world
is still her house, not a house
overrun by termites
and leeches. Rats
walk brazenly into each room,
making away with clothes,
bank books, marble
end-tables. In her mind
the world is still gracious
and runs on love
which no one should have
to beg for, palms outstretched
as if homeless, made that poor.

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