Forte

Falling,
Falling,
Falling

Found

Speckeled hair caught under the stationary shopping cart
Blue plastic glasses over her deaf blue eyes
Dressed in her house rope and slippers
Keys in hand
Scabs across her arms and legs
Who loved Forte other than the Verizon man who found her?
Other than her lost son?

"Forte, can you hear me?"
"Forte, can you hear me?"

No beat to her stare
No rhyme to her breathing

"Forte, can you hear me? "
"Forte, can you hear me?"

Everyone in sight stands alert to the stillness of her body,
Staging responses for when the "savers" arrive
To announce what we already know:
Forte, left with a sudden blow

Pinching her nose
Pounding her chest
Machines in an apartment hallway;
Rehearsing the way to bring her back
(Is this the way she wanted to close?)

All that remains is the wet denture of an old woman
And a cold body being pulled away publicly

"Forte, can you hear me?"