cadence

her spindly figure
gracefully paces the tread
finding its rhythm;
an adagio that builds to andante
in just over an hour,
and this is only the beginning.

the hollowed eyes
of her vacant visage
peer critically around the room
fueling the only appetite she feeds

her gaunt frame is bent
over the screen,
her skin stretched taut over
scarred white knuckles
as her hands grip
the heart rate monitors,
melting away with
each new calorie burned...


She pushes through the enervated lull,
her bone-weary body nearly wasted
when her pace quickens once again...

I follow her gaze
to the corpulent
figures who are powerless-
her strength increases
feeding off the emptiness
and the aches of hunger
in her gut

the incline increases,
elevating the pedestal
on which she observes...
her stride reaches
prestissimo.

now weightless,
her lithe limbs
in rhythmic cadence
barely kiss the tread,
proving their strength
as she persists

whittling
withering
wilting
into the
wonder
of exculpated bliss.