Last Embrace

MARILYN ROBITAILLE 

May 3, 2020

I’m reading Dreiser’s Sister Carrie

She sits in an earth-bound rocking chair

Staring through the window at passersby

Oblivious of their plights and heartaches

She’s complacent and happy, most problems solved

Few discomforts to speak of, maybe just the cold

But she can build a fire to warm herself

Coal bin full, matches by the hearth

She rocks, observes the crowded street

Indulges in this moment, smiles and dreams

Reviews her daily tasks, the things she left undone

Little does she know, disaster’s on the march

In one quick breath, the screw will turn

Fate will smack her hard, and fortune deal a blow

Leaving Carrie all undone, completely woebegone

Without reflection, she failed to savor,

Failed in her gratitude when all was well

The bin full, warmth radiating,

That last perfected moment unappreciated

Fast-fleeting, ephemeral, so beyond her now

The world all-shifted, the devil unleashed

I feel and note our silent sisterhood 

It would be nice to know precisely

That last embrace,

That last embrace of normal

MARILYN ROBITAILLE teaches English and directs study abroad at Tarleton State University. She is founding co-editor of Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas and co-hosts the Langdon Review Weekend festival. Her work has appeared in a variety of poetry anthologies. Fifty Poems and Images (Romar Press 2019), her book of illustrated poetry, has been featured in interactive poetry readings and gallery exhibits.