Cynthia

CYNTHIA

Remember Cynthia
It snowed on Sheffield all day that day
and you drove smiling
down the road,
snowcovered,
smiling.
It snowed on Sheffield all day that day
and I skidded into you on Suffolk Street.
You were smiling
and I smiled too.
Remember Cynthia.
You whom I did not know.
You who didn't know me.
Remember.
Remember that day.
Don't forget,
Cynthia,
a man was smoking,
sheltering in a bus shelter,
and he cried your name,
Cynthia,
and you ran to him
through the snow,
and you threw yourself in his arms.
Remember that, Cynthia.
Don't be mad if I speak intimately.
I speak intimately to everyone I love
even if I've only seen them once.
I speak intimately to all who are in love,
even if I don't know them.
Remember, Cynthia.
Don't forget
that good and happy snow
on your happy face
on that happy town.
O Cynthia
do you still drive through the snow?
What's become of you
under the atomic snowballs?
And he who held you in his arms
amorously,
is he dead and gone or still so much alive?
O Cynthia,
it snowed on Sheffield all day today
as it snowed before,
but it's not the same anymore.
It's a snow of soreness and desolation,
not an atomic snow
but simply clouds
that die like dogs,
dogs that disappear
in sodden, snowbound Sheffield.
I am not smiling now.
O Cynthia.
Remember, Cynthia.

© GERALD ENGLAND.

Composed: Sheffield, 1st January 1971

Publications

1973 Krax
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1997 MYSTERY OF THE CITY (Tring, Photon Press)