A Different Set of Stars

The One That Got Away

Unsplash image by Kelly Sikkema

Clare sits in the teashop

A table by the window

Just another day really

Until she smells the Lapsang Souchong

And at that very moment, she is doomed to remember

Everything she has tried so hard to forget, on the other side of the world

The way he always smelled like summer

And how that strange, smoky tea — his favourite — made his hair smell like campfires

She is a slave to a slideshow

Of seabirds

And sunshine

Of sleep ins

And sad songs

And all those things that summer was made of

So long ago

Under a different set of stars