A Care in the World.


A woman came to me
In a most peculiar way.
She saw my face, and ran.

When I called out to her
Asked her to stop
She ignored me.
I followed her invitation.

She led me down an alley
Under a bevy of canvas,
Past the physicians and dealers
Of scrap memory and form.
They nodded, let me pass.

She cried out, stumbled
Over passersby and carts,
Her furtive glances behind
Pulling me ever closer,
Telling to me her need.
I hurried to make her whole.

She turned a corner, 
Beckoning me into an alcove.
The two of  us were left alone
Light respectfully subdued
While she lay spilled on the ground
Support removed from below.
She did not see the rusted grate.

She screamed at me, pleaded
"Please go away, leave!"
But her eyes were without shutter
And the draft exposed her cover
As gauze, explaining her flight.
She lay without defense.

She cried just then, admitting
She could not manage a fight.
"Do what you will, she spat,
Ruin me for evermore, everyone.
Curse me with your faith."

"Were you honest but harsh,
I could persevere; kind and 
Deceptive, I could prepare.
Kind and true-- yield."

I smiled, helping her up,
And Understood.  I cared.
In caring, she was no more.