Odds Against

I tried

Though there was never a reason

I persisted

Though it was hopeless

I endured

Though there was no hope

I cared, I cried

Such futility

The agonies of staying at it

Through the daily disappointments

The unspeakable

Loud, hollow, long-winded words

The clamoring of the grieving

Piteous cries and angry yelps

It all made sense

But amounted to nothing

Death absorbed the joy

Lifeless forms blotting out the sun

The sufferers hiding in corners

Too long, too sad, too hopeless

And I was alone

We all were

Isolated from the vibrancy of

the spirit of

the joy of

Family

How we struggled

Rarely complaining

The lack

The missing

The death of hope

I tried

Odds against

Why