I was thinking of you today

(North Earl Street Series).

I was thinking of you today, sis.

I miss you.

I remembered how we used to sit
and watch the world go by
from our favourite café,
describing people, stories, possibilities,
making a universe out of passing strangers.

I remembered one of our happiest days—
when I came back from Galway
and we sat outside Ann's in the sun.
People drifted over and joined us,
then drifted away again,
while we stayed at the centre of our own small world.

I was telling you about him,
his strange proposal,
how everything had changed.

We knew each other so well then,
taking turns to fetch the tea,
the buns,
returning to continue conversations
that never seemed to end.

We chatted with everyone,
watched Greedy Bob terrorise the neighbourhood,
laughed,
dreamed,
and wandered through the past and future
in French, English and Irish.

And then I remembered the beginning.

That day long ago
when you appeared in my life
with yogurt and granola.

A small thing,
an ordinary thing.

Yet somehow,
from that simple offering,
a friendship grew.

I was thinking of you today, sis.

Of sunshine,
tea,
languages,
dreams,
and all those hours spent watching the world together.

I just wanted to say:

I miss you.