A woman stops into
the grocery--deserted
save for her and the cashier--
and plops down a can
of cat food and a tomato.
The cashier says
is that all there is--
and as the woman
bundles against the night
on the way back
to her car, that line
from the Peggy Lee song
starts playing in her head.
And in a way she's glad
that it's been reduced to this.
With The Sonofabitch long gone,
and all the kids grown and
moved on as well,
it's just the pain
(but it's a good one)
of sharp claws digging
into your skin
at 5 o'clock in the morning--
a wakeup call more reliable
that Sonny and Cher
wailing "I Got You Babe."
And that's a hurt that,
unlike most of the others
that came and went
over the long and the short of it,
doesn't leave any hidden scars.
