your entire life

to lose hair -

no, I have to be more precise:

to lose MY hair
dream about it,
even,
frequently

losing hair,
a sign, obviously,
of aging - of losing control,

your entire life,

change

control

no control

about your body,
it is a general thing,
about your life

"your entire life, change"
my great-grandmother Elisabeth, on her lap my grandmother
Maria, my great-uncle Theo, who died, 17 years old,
in WWII,  my great-aunt Klara

after my daughter's birth,

I was 42 years old,

my hair fell out
every day,

and covered the floor

(white) of our bathroom,

it looked awful
it made me weep

I always used to be

the kind of woman, to whom

hairdressers exclaimed

something like: Oh my God,

your hair is just soooo beautiful

and full; and my childhood neighbor

Frau Baden used to grab it
on the street, embarrassing:

your hair is like the mane

of a black horse, so strong and wild.
I blushed, on the street
but still:

first sign of our
soul struggling to free
itself again could be
our hair covering the
bathroom floor -

there are others too,

signs, I mean.

© Susanne Becker