Elizabeth 1974-2004

Elizabeth 1974-2004

The cold air whispers sorrow
as they gather under a green taperestry
to pay their last respects in a death
they don’t know how to grieve

“A coward way to die,” a spectator
digussed as a mourner mutters in a
tone everyone hears including
the crying family beside her grave

“Shut up.” Her mother wants to say.
They did not hear her baby crying at night.
fighting a monster no one could see,
who pulled and tore until she could
no longer survive

As they lower Elizabeth into the ground,
the funeral party closes their eyes and
pictures the laughing girl they all knew,
wondering who was the stranger who
took her life with a bottle full of pills