Still Here

I came across her name today on a sticky label after so

many years – it could be thirty – and I have no idea why,

whether it was written before or after she refused to walk

through the door I held open for her, or when she lost her

teenager child. Also on a video I shot around that time to
show all the staff at Christmas for fun, she is scowling and

saying something curt, but I think it was in a mocking

tone, certain this was after the door incident and before

her loss: I can’t imagine it is possible to play with anger

like that so near personal tragedy. And it isn’t just now I am

reminded of this, or how another colleague stood in front

of us reciting An Irish Airman Foresees His Death after

his son was killed whilst flying a plane, but it is not a
thought one holds each day like them, if they are still here.