• 365 Days

    I watch her
    Across the room, she sits still as a stone
    Unmoving but the pen in her hand and the thoughts in her head

    I watch her
    She empties her mind, words dripping from the nub soaking the paper

    I watch her
    Wonder races my mind, that paper, a single sheet, drenched with her inner thoughts

    Still I watch her
    Realize her pen slowing, the words have stopped flowing
    She looks up, at me, staring with worried and troubled eyes

    Yet I watch her
    She’s fearful, her eyes, they are calling for me, needing something, needing me

    I watch her
    She stands, coming towards me, with the speed and caution of a worried tortoise

    I watch her
    She lays her book in my lap, meeting my gaze and leaves with such grace that would shame any ballerina

    I can no longer watch her
    I stare at her book, her thoughts, her world, trusted with me, a stranger

    I spend the night reading
    The book, her life, realizing, her journal, a diary, a new entry for each new day

    The pages, dated and numbered
    Day 1, “a year that’s all, 3-6-5 before I fall”

    Everyday
    A different poem, a different entry, 365 full pages, a new day, a new page

    I look for her
    The next day, she was gone, nowhere in sight, no one had seen her
    I go through the day clenched to her book

    At home
    The news on but not really listening, a name said, a girl, fallen from a bridge….suicide

    ~Today would have been day 366…..