Denouement
By Richard Dinges Jr.

She had control of her world,

memorized between cracks

in the straight line of the gray

concrete sidewalk between green

grass plots neatly trimmed,

strong purposeful strides with

a panting dog, tongue slapping

at nothing, a slack leash held

tightly, until the dog stopped,

nose buried off the beaten track,

leash suddenly a taut argument

in physics, a short thin plot

with this surge in tension

between woman and nature,

when she no longer wanted to be

the heroine in her own story,

unwilling face the inevitable.