Orpine Drive

I would wake to the sound

Of her screaming his name

Knowing she loved him

Forgetting he was gone

I would try to soothe her

As she shook in my arms

Valium can only numb you

For so long

Leaving a hole and ache

Larger than when it

Entered your bloodstream 

I had never seen my grandmother

So lost, alone, and suffering

I traveled 600 miles to comfort her

And didn't know where to begin

Seeing me would make her happy

Until she remembered why I was there

She refused to eat

But made sure I was fed

I brushed her hair

I painted her nails

Strange I know

But when the Titanic 

Was sinking 

I read somewhere that

Women rushed to the mirror

To apply lipstick

We are always trying 

To make things beautiful

Even death

I lost my appetite

To clove cigarettes

Whiskey and insomnia 

A stranger in my hometown

I came and left

Like the ghost of him.

~Amber C. Smith (November 2014)