she became dizzy as her head swirled
with the yellow pills on her sweaty palm
and could not decide
whether to swallow them
or be swallowed by them

in fact she wondered if they were
the pills prescribed by her unfeeling doctor
or, in her desperation, the stars she grasped
from the sky last night

last night she kept telling her doctor
what she needed was love
not pills
but he just stood there with a cunning smile
take these, he said, you’ll feel better
in the morning

in the morning the room grew even darker
and more empty, she could hear
echoes of her own heartbeats
or, were they heartbeats of the room
banging her head with all its walls

scattering in the night sky
the yellow pills swirled
faster and faster
like shooting stars