I didn’t realise I once knew Haydn,
Till I met him again,
On our ‘market day’,
At Haven of Hope Hospital.

In the corridor he turned back and asked
Me at our Fair Trade Healthy Food stand.
‘Have you once been a teacher?’
‘Why yes,’ I answered in surprise.

I was teaching girls all along,
And boys but briefly as a sub.
So it must have been at Jubilee,
Where idealism in me was boiling …

Can’t imagine having told him,
The second movement sounded even better.
I no longer recall the piece today.
I only remember his smiling face.

Yes, a quiet boy with a gentle smile,
A philosopher-looking teenager,
Some thirty years ago,
A consultant doctor today.