"eponine"
-----------
alone she stands,
fingers numb from gripping the metal
of the bars that make up valjean's gate.

if you want
to make this a cliche, you could say:

she stands on her own.
but not quite. for she doesn't look around,
only cries to the heavens and roars
at the demons in hell. if God Himself
was to strike her with a lightning bolt,
shout in her ear "OPEN YOUR EYES!"
she's probably not deign to listen.

and so, as marius and cosette vow
to love forever after meeting for a moment
(lust at first sight, you bet, darling)
she glances through the gate
as tears roll their course down her smudged cheeks
through her tangled hair.
and she actually sees.

she takes in the view from between
two uncaring steel bars
cold from the chill leaking from her fingers.

and she takes in the view of her true defender
pledging his life to a woman
who only sees his looks and not his heart.

and she wonders in the crevices
the frozen dungeons of her memory
why he looks at her
as if she was never there at all.

eponine stands, straightens
brushes off her rags in vain
and gathering her dignity around her
as a solid protecting foundation
she leaves cosette's gate and heads for home.

but her control crumbles
and she turns for an instant
to see marius smiling at her!
smiling!...with cosette in his strong embrace.

her soul chooses that moment to flee.

-end-