Lily One Night 1945.

She closed her eyes.

The room seemed darker 

and memories flooded back 

to that other room

and a similar darkness 

and the man's heavy tread 

on the stairs coming up 

and his hands over her mouth 

and the smell of the farm 

and cigarette smoke

and his touching below.

Her mother came one Sunday 

and took her back 

to London and the blackouts 

and sirens and she said nothing 

nothing at all about the man 

or his wife or the farm.

She opened her eyes 

it was home 

and the war over 

and the memories 

are still there inside her head 

and still nothing mentioned 

not a word said