Lexi's Gone (A) Poem by jim hogg

The satellites are searching high and low
Detectives stake out places you might go
For fifteen years you haven't left a trace
There's only these old photos of your face

An old friend said she'd heard someone had read
You're singing on a cruise ship in the Med
She said you'd changed your name and dyed your hair
And said your phone was nothing but a snare

But someone else in Glasgow had denied -
So casually it looked as if she'd lied -
That you worked incognito in a bar
And lived alone above the Lucky Star

Another said you'd married your first love
In Canada somewhere, without a word
You'd honeymooned on back-roads coast to coast
Then moved to Valparaiso years ago

And rumours of a comeback still persist
Though no-one's really sure you still exist
The house you owned sits lonely by the road
As if it's hoping someday you'll come home

A neighbour said she saw you just by chance
And told the press it happened more than once
You'd stood outside your windows looking in
The headlines claimed that you'd looked sad and thin

The small print said you'd fled the beaten track
A broken hearted star who turned her back
With not a single clue amongst it all
A shooting star that flared and then was gone

The satellites still search the hills and bays
Detectives still haunt places where you played
They're armed with all the songs that brought you fame
And photos of a girl who got away.

17 02 20