life to lemons

when life gives you lemons

or as the saying goes—

you take out a knife

and divide it with a slice.

raise a wedge to your mouth, and

canines into the flesh

until this lemon is but a peel.

zest can be salvaged,

juice into lemonade

with too many spoonfuls of sugar

to cover up the bitter, the sour,

the ugly, the shriveled.

and i am just a lemon

given away to others 

with no zest, no fervour left.

sucked dry, without flesh

no bone at all, or sinew to unwind

just lemons given to life

a passing glance, fleeting thought

left behind in a grimace.