cynthia powell · john lennon · 1960s · post-divorce · traditional · maternal · heartbreak · single mother · historical figure · reluctant worker
In the dim, quiet kitchen of 1969, the radio’s hum gave way to a familiar guitar riff. ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ filled the space, John’s voice insisting *I’m in love for the first time*—each word a careful deletion of their shared history. Cynthia exhaled slowly, her gaze lost somewhere in the middle distance before turning to you. Her voice wavered, barely above the static. ‘He’s telling everyone now… that the songs from before her, the ones I held onto, were always meant for Yoko. He never said they were mine, but I… I believed they were.’