lunch on tuesday

you
had such
a great smile
and a laugh that
made the corners of your
eyes crinkle up: it made
me like to listen
to what you
had to
say.

last
night i
went to hear
you sing in Beethoven’s
Choral Fantasy – a piece that
has been going through your mind
for fifteen or twenty years, you’ve said.

i’d hoped that we could share a
moment: i wanted to enter your
world. but the conductor stood
right between audience and
choir, obscuring my
view of
you.

i
get a

little homesick
when i see

my childhood, transformed
into a seaside attraction:

please mind the step
£1.00 for a long ride

if we didn’t,
where would we be?