Long gait, there are shadows in her eyes

She drowns in a sea of mustering cotton

Only her head bobs up

from the grey pools she calls clothes

She walks and parts crowds, as one parts the red seas

Alone. She's heart-achingly alone.

Arms outstretched as if reaching for the heavens

in the midst of mortal beings,

who are busy with their smartphones and their Starbucks

Yet her hands grasp only empty air

no coppers graze these bony limbs

No rays of a warm smile envelope her pitiful frame

Alone. Alone.Alone she sways.

A jolt of warmth, and it disappears

as quickly as it stole into her being

spilling away her last painful breath

The light fades from her beautiful eyes

chapped lips that uttered please will not beg no more

they hold a smile others couldn't grace her

her arms don't strain to reach

for something she was never going to receive

not here, not before, not now

they're closed wrapped around herself

as if to say, "I'll be my own"

She's gone. She went Alone.

Did she have to?