You have taught me
to find pleasure
in the ordinary things.
Like the crackle
of wrapping paper –
the potential
of an empty
cardboard box –
the allure of shiny,
bright cutlery,
knives excluded,
of course; the rattle
of a bunch of keys.. A myriad of treasure
lies inside a button-tin;
that washing-machines
can be kaleidoscopes
of colours as they whizz
around and around
and how to speak
the language of a flower
or a fraying ball of string. Made me appreciate
how the absence
of just one person
for just one minute,
can be devastating
as a roof, crashing
round one’ s ears
and how their return
can bring a smile
like the sun coming up;
to make a rainbow
with a hose-pipe. In nine, short months,
so many days,
hours and seconds,
you have transformed
this hardened cynic
into a nä ive girl again,
and how glad I am, my life
has been touched by yours.