They linked their arms and they crossed their fingers
Hoping no one notices each other’s manoeuvres
His hand on the dress that she wore for work
While they sat together like the lovers they weren’t
She borrowed his records
He lent her his coat
She took on his twitches
He changed the way he spoke
Spent hours with her scars
Tracing them along his own arms
And she’d been there for hours
Before she found him at the bar
Brushed her teeth, her tongue and then convulsed
All her effort through the day undone
Her face split into threes by tears
And the make-up she had worn for years
Stained his shirt as she learnt to cry
Into a chest she didn’t recognise
And I can’t leave the flat
The ghosts, the ghosts, the ghosts are back
And I wake up with strangers
And the guilt I shouldn’t have