I MET DESPAIR TODAY.

Her eyes oozed

Sorrow tinged with specks of resignation.

Her shrunken cheeks

Shone trails of bitter tears.

Her knees buckled

From the weight of past regrets.

Somehow she had erased

The memory of who she used to be.

We met in a fleeting corridor of truth.

“How are you?” I asked with deep sincerity.

“I’m stressed” was her reply.

“I want this all to end”.

Grasping for a shred of kindness

“I wish you well”, was all that I could muster.

A wry smile greeted

My feeble invocation,

Then she hobbled off

Encased in a casket of despair.

Now, I am ensnared.

Tendrils of confusion and regret sequel that brief encounter

As I hold an invitation

To confront an aspect of my own humanity.