Hash browns in the freezer

Hash browns in the freezer
The flash of a dark blue coat
A cross-body bag, a Greggs sausage roll
Eurythmics
on the radio

A shirt I would have bought you
A perfectly ripe nectarine
The shetland theme tune, a gig you would have loved
Tin foil
over a half-eaten
can of beans

A woodpecker in the garden
Fish and chips by the sea
Car sweets in tins, supermarket cafes
Cutting onions
the way
you showed me

I could go on and on and on
But all there really is to say
Is that I thought it would be
the big things that got me
But it's all
the little bits
in between

And while it's hard
Feeling sad
A million tiny times a day
It's a comfort to know
You're so woven into things
That you're never
too far
away

I saw some flowers today

I saw some flowers today
And straight away
I thought of you
And then I felt sad
Not to say “Lovely flowers!”
And have you say
”Lovely flowers!”
Back too

But then
I felt
A little less sad
Because the reason
I thought of you
Was that we’ve loved
so many flowers
together before
And so I knew
You’d love
these too

In between

When my world shrank
So did my wants
And all the things I’d hoped we’d do
Got crumpled up
And put to one side
Until later
Or never
Who knows
And what was left was smaller

All the little things in between
Glances
Touches
Ways of saying things
The type of stuff
You can’t book online

Now I just want to pop round
Push the door
Shout hello
Step inside
Hear your voice brighten
See your face light up
Lock eyes as you get up from your chair

“Cup of tea?” you’ll say
Straight away
“Ooh yeah, but I’ll do it, you sit down”
I’ll see the crinkles in your face
Smile and rub your hand
Always soft
Always cold
Just like mine

Then we’ll just sit
And be for a while
Nothing to say or do
Enjoy the same air
On the same bit of earth
Everything better
Because we’re both there

It’s extraordinary really

It’s extraordinary really
How we all carry on
When our hearts are breaking
Our lives are crumbling
When so much is going wrong

But still we keep on going
Leave our beds, go to work, make small talk
We find pockets of joy
And laugh with the tears
Because life can be both light and dark

You think we’d be quicker to realise
Considering all we’ve been through
That when people are a bit weird or rude
It’s because they’re struggling too

Or maybe they’re just massive dickheads
Doing their usual dickish things
But if we don’t know for sure
We could choose to be kind
Because kindness always wins

Except it doesn’t really though, does it?
It’s not as simple as that
But it’s a good place to start
It feels good to be kind
Because it spreads, it grows, it comes back