Spirit Death
Dawn never feels
like a beginning
anymore.
Only the beginning
of the end.
Some days, I wonder
if I died in my sleep
and my spirit just hasn’t
figured it out yet.
Today, from the bus,
I saw a woman collapse
against the wall
of the hospital building.
Her grandson had to
hold her up.
I’m tired, she kept saying,
I’m just so tired.
Her world had clearly ended
and her spirit knew it.
Lauren Scharhag is the author of twelve books, including West Side Girl & Other Poems, Requiem for a Robot Dog (Cajun Mutt Press), and the forthcoming High Water Lines (Prolific Press). Her work has appeared in over 100 literary venues around the world. She is the recipient of the Door is a Jar Award and the Gerard Manley Hopkins Award for poetry, as well as a fellowship from Rockhurst University for fiction. She lives in Kansas City, MO. To learn more about her work, visit: www.laurenscharhag.blogspot.com