I’d love to find beauty
everywhere...
in death and decay, too—
the sages tell us
it’s there, but
I remember our old
next door neighbors
their house
well off the street, yet
when the woman came out
to do a little gardening
she’d wear a mask
to cover the lower half
of her face
after the cancer
began eating away
at her nose
and they sliced
more
and more
of it
away
now I wonder
if she wore it
inside, too
in front of the mirror
their kids
her husband
if he was
secretly relieved
that she did
Brian Rihlmann