Complacency of society

Left her alone in her apartment

But one day I happened upon her

She looked thin and frail

Her hair …wired out white

She was alone

Except for the people who covered her walls

Charcoal and pen on every scrap of paper she could find

Intimate…intriguing…the faces intense

Their expressions mesmerizing

They alone spoke to her

They were her daily companions

She was the designated poor…

She was alone

But in her solitude she found joy

In her drawings

Not recognized by society…

A profound artist among the faces

Her work was forever lost

Her name is not known

But an ARTIST she was

I was 24…she was 54

Now forty years later

Her work walks through my mind