The Judas Body (Poetry)

When she got the news
it came as a shock
then disbelief was
quickly followed by
deepening despair

Why her and why now?
and when exactly
did her body turn
quite so traitorous —
undo her future?

This same set of limbs
she had grown up with
cared for as a friend
always imagined
indestructible

now seemed a turncoat
a faithless consort
she couldn’t divorce
but forced to live with
‘till death us do part’

Exactly how long
no more than a guess
as a timebomb ticked
somewhere in her flesh
fifty’s far too young