Divested

 
She didn't see: the walls'
     gaping holes filled with rat 
droppings; saints' plaster 
     statues arrayed on grimy

oilcloth, atop the upright 
     piano. What was withheld
was perhaps a mercy 
     as the detritus of a life 

disintegrated into its simple 
     elements faster than the mind  
could track, nor the blue 
     unblinking sky.