Toast.

I could smell toast as I opened the door;

toast I had eaten hours before and

this happy aroma had altered the room.

The ghostly, particulate breath of perfume,

unbidden and soluble memories of you,

were replaced by the comfort it formerly knew.

But the difference imparted a subtler tone

to the savoury silence of being alone

and solitude’s offer of freedom and peace

concealed in the giving a limited lease.