CAN OF CAT FOOD AND A TOMATO

It's late at night. 

A woman stops into 

the grocery--deserted 

save for her and the cashier--

and plops down a can

of cat food and a tomato.

The cashier says 

is that all there is--

and as the woman

bundles against the night

on the way back

to her car, that line

from the Peggy Lee song

starts playing in her head.

And in a way she's glad

that it's been reduced to this.

With The Sonofabitch long gone,

and all the kids grown and 

moved on as well,

it's just the pain

(but it's a good one)

of sharp claws digging

into your skin

at 5 o'clock in the morning--

a wakeup call more reliable

that Sonny and Cher

wailing "I Got You Babe."

And that's a hurt that,

unlike most of the others 

that came and went

over the long and the short of it, 

doesn't leave any hidden scars.