a bad lady's fallen down,

I bend to tender succour,

lean, quite ravaged now,

she used to be a looker

 

rheumy eye meets mine

sees me for an old lover

I ring for an ambulance

my raincoat for a cover

 

beyond speech, staring,

I stroke her grimy hand,

crowd standing apart, a

motley but curious band

 

she tries to speak, but

uttering merely tears,

thoughts overturned by

a  gush of fresh fears

 

in a mist of memories

pain mingling with past

dimly recalls a passion

she'd hoped would last

 

but what is his name?

eyes still look so kind

the nights in his arms

decades she's pined

 

swept off by cold sirens

his tears hot in the rain

she's happy to die, now

she has seen him again