A lament for her rape and murder after she was abducted 500m from my home, near Clapham Common, South-west London, March 2021
~~~
My heart is woeful sore, for the woman
We did not know but all adore
Who suddenly appeared on lamp-post, screen and door.
Your pretty face, alert and full of life
Now as still as a knife
In a dusty drawer.
You were the best of us
Taken by the worst of us.
You are no longer
You are no longer here
You are no longer here or there.
You are everywhere.
You are the tracks of our grieving tears
You are the lilac sky as sunset nears
Cloaking the Common in the gath’ring dark
On your last walk home through the quiet park.
The bandstand you passed with your final steps
Will never be the same again:
A floral grandstand now, a bird of paradise
Soaring to all points North, South, East and West.
But I guess you did that all the time,
Didn’t you? Everything you touched, you blessed.
We’ll be seeing you, supernova Sarah,
Playing among the stars
Tugging on Orion’s Belt and skipping onto Mars.
And as your universal journey starts
May your smile live eternal in our hearts.
Rest in peace, Sarah
