Souvenir

On my desk there is a photograph
of Patsy, Helen, Peter and me
sitting around a table in the bar
of an expensive hotel (piano
palm, framed calligraphy).

We are raising our glasses.
We look so happy I can't stand it.
Can it be so simple-
a sister, two friends and some booze?

And I think of the waiter
who must have taken the shot
think of him smiling and deeply bored
by the duty to witness and record
the wealth and happiness of strangers.

~John Ash