In the end she remembered the beginning
With a wavering hand,
she turned over her mind's hourglass.
The empty stomach now sat hungry, the bosom full
The almosts and nevers swam sadly forward
the firsts and the lasts interposed
The good and bad became tantamount
The years lost their numbers
and the dates their meaning.

In the end the memories formed a jumbled line,
Small soldiers steeled for the plunge.
The hungry hourglass grinned its toothy grin
and licked its greedy lips
As the first jumped in a slow arching swan dive
the memories splashed forth,
splitting from the seams

She remembered her first cut,
the drops of blood glittering like rubies
She had thought she was rich
She remembered her first tears and her eyes
struggling to swim beneath those salty pools
She had thought she just might drown
She remembered her first winter,
the miles of white and the never ending blank-
She remembered her first death,
the rows and rows of tombstones....
....
In the end she remembered the beginning
And with a steady hand, she turned over
her mind's hourglass for the last time
And let everything drain away.