I See You

Are you ok?

My car slides past you at the traffic lights.

I can tell you’re not alright.

The weight of the world is heavy right now.

I don’t know you.

But I wish you did not have to carry it.

Tesco bags in each hand,

Soles of your shoes so thin.

I wonder what is in those bags.

Soup maybe?

A reduced price loaf of bread?

I begin to build your story.

Milk and sugar for your tea,

Yes.

To sip with eyes of sorrow behind glass.

Locked down.

A human goldfish.

You had a cat once too probably.

But you don’t need tins of Sheba anymore.

You always did buy her the best.

You still talk to her.

And you talk to your wife.

It doesn’t matter that they are long gone.

Your mind is stubborn.

And so your lips move and mutter.

In my rear view mirror,

I see you,

Big round saucers of pain.

This pandemic has altered all.

I feel your story.

And your pain becomes mine.

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