Somebody That I Used To Know

I saw you when you slipped and tripped and fell Your face was red, your embarrassment glowed, and you cried, Not from pain, or hurt, but because you were seen In a position so far removed from normality in your neat and tidy life. Your handbag exploded, an overturned rainbow volcano As lava and purse and all things feminine, skidded And crash landed in the cracks and landing strip of the pavement And you, like a hijacked jet, sprawled and bruised and crying. I could have rushed forward, an ambulance to the rescue of a victim Of a crime, a circumstance, an international occurrence, a bad dream But for once, I stayed and watched, with a conscience numb of sympathy Like a snatch of sadness on the television, abnormality far removed. But I could not change channels, or volume, or the scene before me And I could not turn away, and I felt I had no need to When you looked straight at me, finding me in the crowd All pretending to be helpless; to save ourselves… …From being as exposed as you.