Ode to a Lost Jacket

By Randy Ai

It is lost! Lost! Lost! Lost!

Taken from me in its youth

Its bright and young future

Extinguished by the hands

Of cruel fate and ill luck

How I will miss you:

My lost jacket, my beautiful orphan

Whom I have loved for so many years

And raised as my own

You impressed and dazzled

Navy blue, and double-breasted

Your body rose like a tall statue

Long and tall and proud

Finally reaching your full length

At the end of your crisp collar

Men praised you

And women adored you

Your hint of sophistication

Was the subject of conversation

Your photogenic demeanour

Was the fabric of identity

So many years we travelled together

Across oceans and continents

From the deserts of Morocco

To the temples of Japan

And in Europe you were always the star.

And how carelessly I left you

Alone one night, in a bout of naive trust

In the hearts of other men.

And when I had returned

You were snatched away from me

In the heart of the cold, dark night

How I fear what has become of you...

Have you been discarded?

Have waste and rubble

Formed the contours of your undignified grave

Where your lifeless corpse now lies?

Are you hanging in neglect

On the coat rack of another?

Lost and forgotten

In a damp and dark place

Or have you been taken as a cheap prize

By an unscrupulous predator

Who has ravished you

And stripped you of your worth?

Who will take care of you now?

Love you and protect you?

Treat you to appointments at the dry-cleaners

And faithfully brush lint and specks of dirt

Off your body?

And although I can indulge

In an orgy of reckless shopping

I will never find another like you.

As that which we love the most

We find the hardest to replace.