Affair

Do you remember
- how a chance encounter
ignited a spark of chemistry between us?
- how, gently, we fanned into flame
a mutual appreciation,
and our shared humour 
engendered a warm friendship?
- how that rosy glow kept the winter cold at bay,
and even our friends
felt lit up, included, laughing and singing
like kids round a camp fire?

But unforeseen, friendship flared into passion,
with leaping flames singeing those around us.
The heat of our infatuation isolated us
with warning signs, 
Danger.
Stand clear.
But we saw only catherine wheels and rockets 
enthralling us with unimaginable beauty and colour.

Then, like gelignite among the fireworks,
you cheated.
I raged.

An incendiary device, intent on harm,
anger burned white-hot,
a destructive inferno, charring, maiming, consuming,
reducing our love to unrecognisable embers.

Now we poke listlessly among the cold, grey ashes.

Helen Parker

Helen Parker loves words: reading, writing, teaching English to speakers of other languages, polishing her French, Italian and German. She taught for 5 years in Egypt – Arabic is a beautiful language, but a bridge too far to achieve fluency!

photo by Suvan Chowdhury