Conversation Overheard - Diane Scantlebury

Woman in the seat in front
Speaks too loudly on her mobile phone,
Her personal life exposed,
Laid bare for all to witness,
Her face unseen, her voice unknown,

Revealing every intricacy of her travel plans
For half an hour unwinds the tale,
Until mercifully a tunnel intervenes
Brings respite and silence with a technical fail,

But,
"Allo" "allo" the woman still shouts
As if across a continent her friend could hear,
What remained of a banal conversation overheard,
Unsolicited eavesdropping,
Too tortuous,
For fellow passengers to bear.

Diane Scantlebury