CRIME Poem: After All, by Cori Steinberg

He was never
Coming back
She could accept that
Now

The fights, the love
The joy
Despair
Had gone their final round

She let the calm
Flow over her
Unable yet
To miss

No mental checks
Of what he’d do
Her thoughts began
To drift

Who was she
Before him?
She never really
Knew

What was she
Without him?
She could learn that
Too

So much she never
Noticed
Living
As she had

She vowed to become
Mindful
To think and act
And plan

A sense of wellness
Filled her heart
Her life would now
Be good

And with a smile
She would begin
By cleaning up
The blood.