Excerpt:

Her dignity

could not be effaced

by the quality

of her clothes.

I knew this

back near the border

when I was not satisfied.

I recommend highly

a new approach

to the situation.

Such was the time

spent together.

What could I offer her

that would not

betray her?

Money was cold comfort,

bleak as the weather.

There would be

half a smile

and polite rejection

and words

beneath her breath

in a language

not spoken since

a time

before words

were written.

All this

I tell you now.

A time

there was

when such

could not be broached.

Not even

by those

whose position

it was to assist.

Why do I

go on this way?