the stranger
when she woke
that morning
something was different
she could feel it
could almost taste it
but what it was escaped her
as she stood
in front of the mirror
the person looking back at her
seemed only distantly familiar
she thought it someone who had died
but who it was escaped her
as she looked
at the stranger in the mirror
she heard a noise out the window
something that seemed
somehow distantly familiar
but what it was escaped her
as she listened
to the sound outside
she felt something on her arm
something that seemed
somehow distantly familiar
but what it was escaped her
as she looked
and heard
and felt
she came
to see that
she was
the woman in the mirror
that the sound she heard
was the chirping of a bird
that the thing she felt on her arm
was the warmth of the sun
she could not remember
the last time that
she saw herself
had heard the chirping of a bird
had felt the warmth of the sun
and so it was
that she turned
from the mirror
in the bathroom of the new cape cod house
that sat on a hillside under old oak trees
the house that was
filled with shiny new appliances
filled with plush new furniture
the house that was
a house
and not
a home
pulled a suitcase from her closet
then with her children
she left the new cape cod house
that sat on the big hill
that house
that
was
stepped out
into the sunshine
of what would be
and never
looked back
she was 23