One Cut Away

One Cut Away                                                     May 12, 2007

She takes the blade from beneath her case,
Wonders what to etch into the canvas.
She takes the wonder from the ice,
Makes it warm and rouge from frigid clear.
She drinks her vodka on the rocks,
Listens to its liquified messages.
She can't get away from all her pains
Lest she cut her way out from beneath.

It was a dark night for relief,
Dark enough to kill all light left.
It was a full moon overlooking its subjects,
And its spotlight was on the pained lady.
It was murky in its shallow depths,
Muddy, and yet she could see.
It came to her like what goes bump in the night,
One flick was all it took to do the deed.

Red like a rose on Valentine's Day,
But her love ain't comin' from no man.
Red like the dusky skies along Santa Monica Boulevard.,
Yet she ain't with no lover boy in his fancy car.
Red is the new black in the ink in the tub
Filled with an ocean of a few gallons.
Red writes her last sentence of grief on this night,
And the cops will have to watch the pain drain away.

She was never far from a solution,
Just one cut away, and that was all.
She was never far from an institution,
Just had to walk out the front door.
She was never amidst any strangers
Whether she knew their names or no.
She never had doubts when it was time to go.
It was one cut away, and that was all.