an ugly old woman
sits in her house
looks at her hands
once pale
elegant and slender
now knotted and veined
like twisting tree roots
ugly, flaking, pulsing
paper blue hands
that used to hold
her ugly husband's hands
in those ugly times
they never felt
a lover's warm body
never held
a soft new baby
only wore
an ugly ring
bound to
an ugly woman
an ugly marriage
an ugly life