Little did you offer me,
except that which I needed most.
Your spirit unwelcoming, the streets cold,
distance seen on your fleeting faces,
turned away, set in stone.
Your cards were full.
The blankness of your eyes will be easily lost to time,
but still I thank you.
When my soul was being buffeted
like a small ship in the fiery storms
that had descended on my life, in such ferment,
when the tumult had reached breaking point,
and I was in much need of solace, some respite,
You were there.
You served as my safe harbour,
a place of shelter until the clamour eased,
the tempest had passed.
Once more was I able to set forth
on less chaotic seas,
the storms reduced to mere turbulent gales,
the normality of a life beset with turmoil,
where tranquility has only been gazed on fleetingly,
and serenity little known.
Goodbye then, to this town
and the frozen chill of its sullen throngs.
Little will you be held in my memory
but always will I remember the repose I found,
when so much it was compelled,
in a town soon forgotten.