2705 PINE VALLEY DRIVE

the night eternally dragged
light peeps through the blinds
yet there's total darkness.
birds sing early morning songs,
I can't hear the music.
trees sway with the wind
my thoughts drifting.
spring showers fall like
the tears I have shed.
the ceiling is blank
my mind empty
in this luxuriously
cozy room
I long for comfort.
when will this end?
I wonder.
helpless, I look up
as I touch the rosary beads.
with no one around
I am the fortress of me.

(The friends and family who knew the circumstances behind this poem written on March 15, 1994 while in Harlingen, Texas would fully understand the emotion embodied in it. Thank you, Nila Wipf, Tess and Seto De Gracia, Mel and Cielo Ascio for your loving concern, and Lee and Mike Clark for providing me refuge in those difficult times.)