Unforgotten

“All I see is fire — this room
and that wall of books.
The whole building, all on fire.”

I could see that she meant it,
there was a frightening certainty
in her eyes. A conviction

But there was more

She spoke in a way
that would make me remember

Fast forward three years
and a new location:
a radio was blaring.
The name on a news bulletin
made me flinch, go cold
with the dreadful details,
yet somehow half suspected,
in shocking anticipation.
I could see her, so clear,
the way she was looking.
And now, how could I forget?

poem © copyright df barker 2012