that Thursday
(I’m
still
here)
was treatment target group.
You got honor roll
and was handed one of Mother’s warm
gingersnap cookies
three hours before bed.
that Thursday,
(Where are you?)
I got
evaluated
and was asked if I liked to drink warm milk
to calm me down.
I guess I failed that one.

that Thursday,
(Why?)
I was handed a pill pouch and put to sleep
three hours before you.
Around midnight,
(flower?)
with your eyes closed,
you swore you were thinking about me.

During some hour of the late night and
early morning,
(Will you still be there?)
I got a new roommate
and was kept awake
by her mother
crying at the end of my bed.
Seven and a half hours later,
my math teacher pulled back the covers,
and saw me in my pajamas.
It was around seven hours past midnight,
and you wondered whether I would be
coming home the following Wednesday.
(I’m sorry)
It was seven thirty in the morning on a windy Friday in April;
you shaved your legs in the shower
applied a warm vanilla body wash,
and swayed to your favorite song while driving to school.
(I swear I died)
It was seven thirty in the morning on a windy Friday in April;
some b****
stole my toothbrush and my last golf pencil,
and I cried myself dry in the waiting room.
(Always!)