Before long, she couldn’t care less

        the thing had gotten deeper and deeper—

it simply wasn’t her fault

        she was shaking.

                   with rage.

walking past a mirror, a cold moment, 

something troubling and strange.

I sense beyond that divide

something pathetic like

a hazy notion of the world outside.

the odd thing was she was crying

and he thought it really tragic,

the impossibility of completing

what she had started.

        a burning shame

        a parallel universe

where no one knows her name,

couldn’t feel it on the lips

like a foreign language

        unlearned

        unnamed

she utters prayers into fists

cries confession to an empty cathedral

a heavy sigh escapes her lips

                    a sore joke

and the whole universe shook.

in silent moments

one can’t help but consider

are you rescuing me from something?

am I drowning in the water?

a dead goldfish in its bowl,

flush my body down the drain

mutter a half-hearted prayer

for something to save me—

an ancient prayer for rain:

earthly Mother, forgive our sins

render us blue-lipped and numb

forgive her dying in the water

she didn’t know better

only to succumb

to that substance which sustained her

he didn’t know more than to

give her back when it was over

wash her hands clean

and grant her salvation.