In the snow flakes

In the snow flakes

As they spiralled

To the ground

Moments of beauty

Never to be repeated

The sun

Peeped from behind

The trees

Playing a sensuous game

Of hide and seek

For want of something

Better to do.

The bleach of its golden rays

Splintered through

The twisting boughs

Were as wildly lustrous

As your tresses

Flowing in a spring breeze.

I was loathe to turn away

Even as those searing bands

Threatened

To scar my aged retina.

In the distance

You stood out from the crowd,

Waiting at a check out,

Later boarding a bus.

I recognized your walk

The tilt of your head

In the reflection

Of a window.

It was a jewellers

At which you so often stopped

I thought to call

As you stepped into a lift,

Just too far away to reach

Walking so far ahead

Lost in a melee

Of Saturday shoppers

How could that be?

I would know you anywhere

Even in the bright light

It was sickeningly bleak,

Swamped by noise and chatter

Laughter that rattled

In an echo of humour

A poor imitation

Of flattery

In response

To being a good sport.

Silence comes wrapped in

Sack cloth

Dulling the ragged senses

Washed into the background

Painted into a corner

By familiar sounds,

Chastening and hastening

My departure

In the weave and curl

Of the familiar

Now so foreign

In its sharp demands.

Balloon people,

Blank and alien

The crush

Of such proximity

More than merely isolating,

Deadlier than ghostly.

The bland expanse

Of life’s banality

Leaves me cold,

Nary feeling part

Of anything

Or anywhere

Without you.