A hard hit.
      
        Smoke hangs
low, slowly slithering
       from a cracked smile.
Her vexed and vacant
       visage is frozen
for a moment...

and her glossy eyes, glazed
      with frigid gloom, dilate.
Expelling expired air
      she hacks in exoneration,
as if some spirit's
       clutch surrendered
her soul, shaking
       her skeletal frame
in a passionate
       fit of unbridled hate.

She relaxes in her recliner...

       relief.

A torrent flows
       tumultuously toward the sea.
Tales recounting of
       rivers run and rapids
Swum. Awaiting the arrival
       of the untamed.
Wolves wander
       with her. Reclaiming
Untouched wilderness,
       which waits for our return.

After all the things
He spent with me… I was
Never a note — a flower — only
A brief connecting flight.
I am not the type
Clinging to security — yet —
What once were fingers
On delicate hand, are
Crooked — Clawing.
Howbeit his snake coiled,
Relents its wring. And slow release…
Relieves my grief.