To Sevki K and Polly R - Again

The smudging, you see, of life,
The messiness of old age and infirmity,
These are things that will not touch you.

Trite words will not touch you and false sentiments neither
But...........................................................................................
A leg stretched out, feet pointed,
An arm raised with hands and wrists curved gracefully
Up into an arch,
....................................................................................................

You lived a life I do not know, have no glimpse of.
Do I wish I did? Is that it?

More than a year since you both passed away
And we passed on to other tragedies, problems....................

If we have the ability to help and we choose not to,
That's a problem - for us.

But if we have no ability to help
So we have no choice,
Then surely, that's not our problem.

The question is,
Is it owed of us?
Do we have the ability?
And who should decide these questions?

There are bright stars in our firmaments, people we love
For no reason than that they are beautiful people -
This fact cannot be denied.

If such people force us to trot out
Banalities and cliches
False sympathies -
Surely we cannot be blamed for this?

In the end we knew how to love,
Though beautiful we were not.

In the end, privilege brought us Princess Di
And the same took her away.

Life is not a headline.