her shrill laughter makes me shudder like fingers
scraping their way down a classroom board.
She is centre of attention, Queen Bee,
pouring scorn at the quiet man in the corner.
She dances as the tuneles local band play
but soon her zest for life is blown away.
It is midday, curtains are drawn,
she lacks the will to escape
the crushing despair of her lonely bed.
When she alights it is to vodka
and not the anti-psychotic drugs she reaches for,
poison medicine she uses to cope
in a gloomy room...a place beyond hope.