Exceptional Challenges (For Nadia)

I lie here
with little between me and the earth,
trod upon kicked stamped shoved ravaged,
pock-marked with the force of will of a single man.
Only dents now
where I had nursed small reserves of intelligence and beauty.
With the static buzz of flies I somehow sense
that he has succeeded
finally
in emptying me of all that I was worth.

Petrified of hope, possibilities,
having been deprived of any for so long,
I atrophy beneath my hood, my shroud,
invisible and black as coal.

I pray for someone, someday to discover
better worth in this black black coal
and cry a few tears for the exceptional challenges
that turned me into my present state.