Paint peeling
From gray walls.
A cheerless room,
Even in daytime.
Dim yellow lights.
Murky darkness
Night after night.
No visitors come,
Not even her kids.

Eyes stinging,
Feeling no hope,
The old woman
Shuffles along.
Her nursing home
Is the cheapest,
The most run-down.
Her heart aches.
So do her bones.

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