Fugacious

VSA,
VSO
charity work abroad
selflessness
good deeds : improving the lives of others.

Forlorn
self esteem abducted
lonely
excluded from happiness,
forever, or so it seemed.

On day one, she smiled, unknowing, welcome its only intention.
On day three
she conjured circumstance to magic –
her bedroom: her bed. For almost a week.
Long ago
faded and vivid
insistent and careless
memory’s dye leaks understanding.

Beautiful, vivacious, voluptuous.
abroad and alone
a good deed
selflessness
improved self esteem of another.

Less handsome
less pedigree
more surprise : more gratitude.
The finite now –
days and year
top and left, in brackets on a whiteboard –
erasable,
no forensics : past or future.
Gone, gone forever.
What might Burns have written,
home is the daughter, home to the Home Counties.

At home,
in the Home Counties, no one would know.