No chance Ella’s grey hair <br />ever can be covered with dye <br />nor love be found <br />at 52. <br />One date after the other. <br />Suddenly her gums became infected <br />the left side of her face blown up <br />and then she called me <br />desperate to know <br />how to proceed <br />someone had gotten her <br />social security number <br />ordered a $1,300 piece of furniture <br />and three credit cards in her name. <br />Her parents in Florida begging <br />Ella to join them <br />an only child now <br />the son killed in a car accident at 17. <br />Her friend Sarah told me, “Must be something wrong <br />with her. A pretty woman <br />but men run from her. I want to help <br />but don’t know how.” <br />Ella called my sister saying how lonely <br />she felt, that Sunday morning, so <br />my sister invited her for coffee <br />at the bagel place. <br />Silence, finally <br />Ella bursting into tears <br />saying, “Thank you, thank you.” <br />Six billion souls <br />impossible <br />and the Buddha’s truth hard to swallow <br />the years of meditation not enough <br />suffering in every breath <br />until a ton of earth <br />suffocates the pain.<br /><br />Charles Chaim Wax<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/having-been-destroyed-in-the-womb/
