melissaahowells - The Tail (tale) She Had Long and Tall and High And Proud

I'm not completely sure
most people never are
but she might have been the sanest person
I had ever met

she didn't have a place to live
but
she had miles of perspective

she told me
she wasn't about
to start over
life had bruised her up
that was it,
the way she described things

fatalism
was her way of accepting
life's terms

startling
to meet someone like her
someone with no illusions
someone with so few expectations
it made me wonder
it must have shown on my face
perhaps my mouth had opened
had I embarrassed her

the life I had is over
she said
no worries
its alright
I'll live the rest of it
to its natural conclusion

in the next life things will get better
don't be sad for me
she said
I've accepted this

she was young
her hair a permanent beehive of snarls
living outdoors without a tent,
shelter,
or a means to cook
sometimes I saw her staring forward or
gazing up into the sky
calculating her universe
consulting with the Invisible

yet
she knew things
had seen things
was truly somebody
sold the street paper
beamed a 1000-watt smile

when asked
she would have had her alibi down pat
she would declare
I don't need a place to live

one day
when she turned her back
I saw her long cat tail swishing
back and forth

I was surprised,
she surprised me

to many
she only looked feral
yet to me, she offered up patience
kindness, innate intelligence

I wondered how often had she tucked in
that long tail so no one could see it
could she have been using magic
some cloaking device

I don't need a home
was her stock answer
and then I would notice that tail of hers,
long and tall and high and proud
wagging behind her

2:51PM pacific standard time
January 13, 2017
LEGAL COPYRIGHT FOR THIS WORK/POEM
FOR THIS LEGALLY COPYRIGHT SITE TITLE/SITE

edited January 14, 2017
6:24 AM Pacific Standard Time
time stamped.

BY THIS WRITER AUTHOR
MELOO/MELISSA A. HOWELLS
STRAIGHT FROM HER TILT-A-WORLD