Recovering slowly - or: "Little By Little" -

"Warmth of a Faint Smile"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Excerpt from The Inventor's Diary: "I wanted to call" -

"...I've said it before, every time something interesting happens I reach for the telephone to call you, to tell you all about it, perchance to laugh together again, even if just for a little while, like we used to. I was actually dialing the number when I realized that you're just not there. You're distance has turned to absence, your absence has turned to neglect, your neglect has broken my heart, yet again. Even so, I recall the warmth in the faintest of your smiles, a trap set for the younger, foolish me, an enticement to breathe life into fading embers. Just as I'm about to give sway to my foolish dream the end of my uphill climb appears, close at hand. I was humming that old song as the receiver rattled back into its cradle. "Little by little, I'm losing my love for you..."