light, coffee, dust, everything

the light drifts
     into the empty breadshop

dust covers everything

     she sits
              solemnly, stoically,

      staring out through
               the dusty window.

her coffee is cold
   yet she still
     huddles over it
          for warmth



draped in the aged
       blanket that was…

   …once enough…

          to keep her warm


its holes bring back memories
            she would sooner forget


her eyebrow…
       her eyelashes…
    her breath
against the cold
     morning
           windowpane

she shivers silently,
     to no one but herself…


on the other side of the window,
the world moves,
        life happens,
              everything progresses.


but she is alone…
  
      the only person
   on the other side of the glass
             where nothing happens
          and nobody seems to care

the rotting cabinets that
         once housed her childhood
      mimic the slow rot of her heart,
             her spirit, her mind.

                loneliness is unforgiving
            tears are unforgetful
                   and nothing fixes anything

the world closes in,
        but she’s not around
             to see it.


        sunlight
                    …drifts…
              in
     as the wind
            brushes the dry and
                 lifeless leaves down the
      sidewalk and across
            the barren doormat

nobody walks on it anymore
     nobody notices it is even there.

   nobody asks questions
           about the girl
      who sits in the breadshop

…alone…

          …and silent…
       …and still…


            nobody sees her cry
                     nobody sees her smile

     her coffee is cold.
                 nobody asks why