A single tear
carved a clean track
down her *****,
careworn face,
as she fought
to hold back
a sob.
She knew
that she should be strong,
that the opinions of others,
mattered little
in the grand scheme of things.
It was a hard life,
and it wore her down,
sometimes
it seemed as if it would
simply grind her to dust
and she would blow away,
and cease to be.
Almost she hoped for it,
it would be a relief,
an end to the
nearly constant
fear and pain
that she lived in.
It had not always been this way,
it had once been easy,
she had two parents
that loved her,
and did their best for her.
Then her father had died
when she was only fourteen,
after a long battle
with cancer.
Her mother had tried
to shield her,
but she knew that the
hospital bills
were astronomical.
The insurance
and savings were
barely enough,
her mother
had to go to work.
Things were tight,
but they had not starved,
and they learned
to be happy again.
Before long,
it was time for college,
and with a partial scholarship
they could just afford it.
But halfway through
her first year
her mother died.
A sudden heart attack.
And just as suddenly,
it was over.
She could not afford tuition
without her mother’s help,
she could not afford the apartment
where her mother had lived.
She had nothing left.
No family, no money
no school,
and nowhere to live.
She had friends,
but was too proud
to ask for help.
She found a job,
it did not pay much
but by sleeping in her car,
she could afford to eat.
She tried to save a little
each week,
in hopes of getting a room
somewhere.
She did her best,
trying not to feel sorry
for herself.
But sometimes,
like today,
that single tear
would slip out.
She hated it,
a sign of weakness,
when she was
trying so hard
to be strong.
She lifted her head,
reached deep within
and found her strength.
She was better off
than some that she knew.
She did not have to sleep
in an alley
or a cardboard box.
She was not digging
through dumpsters
to find something to eat.
She did not need
to go with strange men
as some of the other girls
out on the street did.
She was better off
that a lot of others,
there was no reason
to cry.
With a hand
that still trembled,
but was growing steadier,
she wiped away
that single tear,
hoping it would be
the last.