Reply to Rudy Francisco’s ‘Ouch’

too many
promises leave us
broken.

every. year.

a youth seeks life,
an aged, afterlife.

some. times
they meet

to know how
age wears us
differently.

and when she’s done,

like a stem pulled by
a hurrying storm
we’re removed.

the explanation
won’t make sense.

and the story ends.

leonell echa