She walked towards me in the rain.
Snow white hair under a pale purple hat,
purple raincoat to match,
clutching a bunch of purple flowers.
She looked like a cloud of lavender.

I smiled at her.
She stopped.
'Not far to go now,' she said leaning on her zimmer frame,
'not far at all.'
'Pardon?' I said
'I tell myself it's not that far,' she said.
'That's good,' I said
'It's my husband's birthday,' she said,
'I need to keep going, it's not that far.'

I looked back over my shoulder
and saw the entrance to the churchyard.
'Not far at all,' I said, 'just a hundred yards or so.'
'That's what I keep telling myself,' she said.
'It's not that far. One step at the time will do it.
One step at the time.'

'You'll do well to remember that, 'she said.