Penny

Penny stood by the bed, a plastic smile on her face,
No rich man’s mistress, no Hyde Park Place,
Still she managed a bit of dignity of sorts,
Gazing into the afternoon haze, she wasn’t so coarse.

The fan cast its shadow on the headboard’s wall
Soft and still, the blades soothed not at all
She felt more alone this day then any this year
This day, her mother’s birthday, slowly her cheek wet with a tear.

Considering her life from school to career and this tenement room
The knocks on the door each night, faces blurred in this tomb
Spasms of nothing, fake sounds to please a man
None of THEM would care or understand.

Tomorrow would bring more of the same
A knock, shuffling, squeaking, no names
Eternal sadness, and creeping death in her soul
Saturday at the park, watch the families, completely alone

Oh, the light was beautiful this Sunday afternoon,
Her bosom rounded in this forgiving gloom
She’d pretend she was at the palace, some elegant night
While her soul continued its spiral downward in the half light