Your Birthday came yesterday

Memories deep and clear

Shadow images drifting

Whispering down the years.

Unexpected phone call

Number unknown

Stranger on the line

Hollow voice echoes

“I need help”

Tough time

Christmas/New Year time

Stops still time

Freeze frame

Sobs fly down the line

A lifeline.

Fleeting images

Slide into view

Photographic snapshots

The old woman

Struggling to bend

Posting newspapers

Through letterboxes

Houses filled to overflowing

With presents, glitter and gold

As she shuffles along

In her pink jacket and old leather shoes

Image burned into my memory

I blew a blessing

Unnoticed unseen

Prior to Christmas Eve.