A Different Girl (Poetry)

(For Pam)

This is the fading image of
the girl I used to be
I barely recognise her now
it hardly seems like me

It’s more than just the passing years
it isn’t merely time
that’s changed the way I think and feel
there’s something else that I’m

trying to identify —
exactly when and where
the girl I was became the me
who sits here in this chair

The album of my life is full
of pictures of the past
those fleeting moments gathered up
so memories might last

But I’m a stranger to myself —
the girl I was is gone
and who is left is hard to say
I guess we all move on