TRANSIENT ETERNITY

I

Tales lived, bills split.
The morning bell allotted to attend,
And slept through.

Lists made, unmade, and made again,
Sabbath sloth, the pile in the sink -
obsessions!

Radio ga-ga,
Movie mania,
News ignored.

A brownie by three -
Bombay was braved.
Little mercies the trio shared.

II

Dashes across the midnight sky,
Coffee chased in the hour before dawn,
Mornings spent with headlines.

Silences shared with music,
Arguments via static,
The daily drill in absentia.

Buckets of tea, buttered toast -
sprinkled with sugar.
The hue always red.

Bitter cold endured in embrace,
Stifling summer soothed by stars,
The uncertainties rhymed with the pouring rain.

III

Wonderful world!
I returned -
but you had places to go.

That was, this is;
I now smile, it's fine.
For a while, you were mine.