Study No. 6: When there is nothing left

She called it accumulated sadness. In the same

way people talk about old money. Her sadness

was old. From before her time. Gifted to her as

an inheritance by the prior generation.

In the early years she balked at the melancholic

tradition, swishing and chasseing through life

until there was nothing left but a naked reality

that didn’t pay the bills or buy enough food.

they were right to be sad

she said.

when there is nothing left

Her face as flat as the morning sea.

She knows what the world can be; but does

does she really know? If you only eat at

McDonald’s can you claim to know cuisine?

There is a common perspective to this bereaving

blight – do differently.

Noted with a counter perspective.

What if I can only afford McDonald’s?

What if there is nothing left but the modestly dressed

one hundred and seventy-five pounds before you?

Believe in the power of tomorrow, is another

well-meaning invitation to focus on something

other than where you are.

Accepted with the following objection.

There is no comfort in proverbial tariffs if we

will all be dead before the assumed return on

investment comes to a present fruition.

All of this talk of someday is a tax on my hope

a levy on the last jar of self-worth kept hidden.

but I want to keep going

she said, at last.

I didn’t hear it until just now - many days after she

said it. Even when there is nothing left, no fun, no

food, no friends, no financial stability. There is something

I will pause for all of us to consider what that

something might be. Because if she can keep going

then so can I.