I saw you but you didn’t see me
At the bridge on the Ringwood road
Crushed insect squashed against railings
Between two yellow-vested police.
Caught a glimpse of your Tuesday misery
Of someone bent from a heavy load
Perhaps reflecting on some of her failings
To the point where there’s just one release.
I sensed the police talked you down
Your heart now dried of tears
And you sat, sad, hunched and broken
Your body limp, riddled with fears.
Driving through I thought I might
Stop, park up in a layby nearby,
Enter your life as a white knight
Mop up the stale tears you had cried
But I drove on past, fickle and hell-bent
Realised my narcissist’s response
Understood my need was dominant
Over your reed-like circumstance
Bending in the gale of your emotions
Close to breaking but still hanging on,
I believed you’d survive and grow stronger
Your roots in your river now deeper.
I wanted to tell you you’d helped me
That your crisis had been my crisis too
But then everyday things allowed me
To allow you to drop out of view
I’ll catch you again somewhere one day
And will be of more use to you then
As the lesson you taught me last Tuesday
Spreads its teaching, like clouds do the rain.
Julian Nangle
Pic: Claire Palmer