Edge

She is pushed
To the edge with
Three sons and her
Husband who is in his
Third year of Graduate
School toward a PhD in
History teaching, but his
Salary is low, as is hers as
A secretary so they pinch
Each penny, stretch each
Dollar to scrape by day
To day, forced to buy
Day-old bread and
Cheap hamburgers,
Almost never to
Eat out and
Then at
McDonald’s
With the boys.
She is sitting on
The old stone wall
By Garrison Hall on
The UT campus eating
Her brown bag lunch of a
Peanut butter sandwich and
A banana using the brown bag as
A plate munching on the first half
Of her sandwich looking at the
Tree limbs on a summer day
When a squirrel runs up to
Steal the other half of her
Sandwich scampering up
A tree as Lindy chases
It but loses the half
Sandwich in tears
As she is hungry,
Angry, and tired,
And has no
Money to
Splurge
On a
Lunch
On campus.
She sits and
Weeps pushed over
The edge by a lost half
Sandwich and living
In poverty while her
Husband works at
Completing his
Degree which
She is aware
May just be
A prelude
To some
Trophy
Wife
Younger
Than she
While each
Day she lives
On trust put on
A young man five
Years her junior
Whose good
Character
She must
Trust
And
The squirrel
Thief has tipped
Her over the edge.
Only her love of family
Sustains her allowing
Her to laugh and cry
At the same time
While she keeps
Her family safe
With her pay
Check in
Hope
For
A
Future
Which is
A gamble
She will win.
Persevere
Blythe
Spirit.