A Life in Five Boxes by Josephine Noyce

Then: he stands posed for the photograph

 a child upon his shoulders

Then: watching trains; rails smoke and cinders

the well-loved picture postcard folded and creased

engine class A3,  No. 4472

Then: a toasting fork held towards the flames

 toasted bread, smells of burning wood, smoke and jam

Then: teenage years fuelled by Chelsea Quant and Kensington Hulanki

their inspiration our adoration

Now: this April day we wait liveried in black

 no more you and me, shoulders, jam, toast and trains.