the totality of loss

The Totality of Loss

Whatever happened in life I always had a home where
they would take me in. Then, one day, it was not a home;
family members came got what they thought they needed,
and rooms where bare with pale squares on walls where
pictures had hung. My last act was to give the key to those
who were coming to paint and decorate the apartment.
Later, when driving past, I saw new curtains, open windows
and voices of people I didn’t know living in my home.
I sat in the car for some time unable to drive. I had lost my
home and, whatever came next, nothing would ever be
the same again.