HAPPY EVER AFTERLIFE

I never asked to carry a gun

I always wanted to be a ballerina

I was as drafted as you
I spun round on one leg in the womb

I lost my right leg in a battle we won
To stay paper thin I took apples for bread

Or maybe I never had two
Or skipped meals to plié instead

It's all the same now, isn't it? Some would ask why

Survive the inside of a fish...
Torture yourself for a wish?

To be burned alive on a whim?
You'll burn out; a spinster in slippers too tattered to spin

Not me; the answer descends from above
So what if, in a way, they were right?

I got one long last look at my love
This encore is love at first sight

Jude Tulli lives in the Sonoran Desert with his beloved wife Trish and a small pride of housecats.