This is a poem for my friend. She has been in hospital since last october, and is not getting any better. Whenever I see her she has lost more weight. She is so thin it is scary. She can barely walk. Everything is a chore for her. Her spirit seems to have died. She doesn't laugh any more, or joke. She shakes, she can't lift her ciggarette to her lips. She is beautiful, but can't see it. And we are losing her more and more with every day.
I never knew it was possible to starve your soul.
You shake, you tremble, you are a whisper,
A half-remembered sweet song.
The light has gone from behind your eyes,
Your smile barely touches your lips.
Oh child, you tear my heart.
You float, you glide, you slide,
You ride on air like a leaf.
Your bones give you expression,
Your cheeks are deep pools.
I sit and smoke with you.
I will not stare. I will not weep.
You are too close to the dark.
Inches from the sleep from
Which you won't return.
Morsel by morsel, crumb by crumb,
Your body is weeping, you have succumbed
To the dark. Food is life, let it in,
Feed the girl lost beneath your skin.
I'm scared by how much you've lost,
Not much to be seen.
I fear if you don't fight back
You'll never see eighteen.
