She'd see a dog on the street.
Rummaging around trash
hoping to find anything to eat.

Eat, food.
She starves more than she hungers.
Yet she just can't bring herself to make that same order.

Eating for a dollar is convenient...
sometimes.
Much different
if eating is for her hunger,
dependent on that dime.

She'd be fine until
it rained, then poured.
Leaving her nowhere else to go but sleep in her car.

To face the cold or sleep with a window open?
While letting her car run through the night,
risking the chance of her own poisoning.

She'd be fine until
she'd find herself in a bed
and realize her misery wasn't only in her head.

She'd get dressed, pack her things
and kiss the kind stranger goodbye.
Knowing she'd never see him again.
This was only for the night.

And as she drove away
She reminisced and longed for the days
that she wouldn't have to pay
with the very thing she wanted to
rest.

Day by day
she fades away.