Sonnet for a Woman in Trouble

 

Desperate as an unwritten poem

some words too expensive, she steals, hoards them

 

loses track of where they’re buried. She digs

with clawed fingers furious at her mind

 

for hiding what she trusted it to hold.

She forgets appointments and promises

 

especially those she made to herself.

With a driftwood stick, she scrawls in sand: “HELP”

 

but on this beach, nobody will see it.

She’s made no plans for what will happen when

 

she falls, alone, permanently injured.

She’s heard that’s frequently how the end comes

 

but tells herself it won’t happen to her

not realizing it already has.