Girl In Coffee Shop

He watches her
Sitting in the booth
Half concealed from him
Her face hidden beneath
A curtain of copper hair
A portable Purdah
Her expression obscured,
Staring into her cappuccino
She is part of a benevolent
Coffee shop universe
Untouched by catastrophe
Untainted by atrocity

But then she rises
And heads towards the door
She pauses and then runs
Out into the knife-like rain
Her copper hair grows damp
And darker. Its glow is gone
Its strands plastered down
Her skirt trails behind her
Through the mud
And he bemoans
The ephemerality
Of living things