I was remembering
all the textbooks
on Greek and Shakespearian tragedies
I had in school.
It startled me
to realize that my life
had become
a tragedy.
Promising, talented, beautiful
and dynamic Rose
whose mind was a match for all
her other talents
had become
a struggling, puffing, disabled welfare case.
Illness, misdiagnosis, pain, denial,
drug abuse -
loss of love, career, self-esteem,
companionship, intimacy.
This is my tragedy -
its side effect is
retaining only a miniscule
amount of faith
in connecting with someone
in sex, in love and in hope.
