1. Sonnet To My Father
2. Elusive Slumber (A Sonnet)
3. Grandmother
4. Grandpa
5. Sharon
6. Louise
7. The Image Of You
8. I'll Remember You
9. Our Mulberry Love.
10. One Last Time. A Villanelle.
11. Little Lion Heart.
12. Gilly.
13. Dreams Of Kith And Kin.
Who was this man who died so long ago
This man who fathered me in forty three,
Who showed how brave a mortal man could be?
A man I was destined never to know.
I had thought of him in so many ways,
As a small child.. As a handsome young man;
In ways only a fatherless girl can
When frustration describes formative days.
My childish mind could never imagine
The face I had not seen or ever kissed,
Or the timbre of a voice never heard;
Yet I loved him, he was my flesh my kin
Someone I did not know, yet somehow missed
And Daddy was just an unspoken word..
©
Copyright
VMM2004
Now come the memories of yesteryear
Teeming into my mind when sleep evades,
With pictures flowing all achingly clear
As voices echo down through the decades.
~~
The images and sounds float all around
Making the long night seem somehow unreal,
But somewhere deep inside me I am bound
To find the solace my mind strives to feel.
~~
I hear the long dead voice of my mother
Crooning oh so softly against my mind.
Gently, sweetly, sounding like no other
Until at last, the sleep I crave, I find.
~~
Dreaming now of happy laughing days passed
Then slumber deepens... into peace, at last.
©
Copyright
VMM
2004
With happy memories of my late Mother
(1914-1972)
I stand on the patch of earth
that used to be your garden.
How surprised I am to find
myself staring down into
the smiling face of Heartsease;
in its beauty, I see you.
I slip down into the past
where my life had been simple,
running your errands without
complaint, just because you asked.
I taste again the spice
of your Sunday bread pudding
and even the castor oil
you bade me drink when I was ill.
In my imaginings
I can picture the cottage,
you framed in the low doorway;
even smell the candle wax,
see the flickering flame and
hear the sputtering sizzle
of the hot grease as it hit the
marble topped wash stand by the bed.
Above all your gentle voice
singing me to sleep at night.
I am a grandmother now;
I want to be loved as you were.
Will I be remembered
when my own grandchildren
are grandparents ? I wonder…
I catch a familiar sound
disturbing my reverie, oh!
I thought I heard you calling.
Grandpa
Grandpa looked like a fat old walrus
with his scruffy furry moustache
chin-ward droopy, like yellowed tusks.
Gnarled hands grasp an aged spade;
booted foot poised mid air
to dig a spit of earth for victory
several sepia generations ago.
The photograph creased but still precious
lay in my wrinkled palm,
a piece of long lost history
joyfully rediscovered in an old tin box.
Fragmented memories twinkle tentatively
through a flaky crumble of cracks
of a now disintegrated wall
of forgetfulness to dazzle and delight.
The aroma of old English humbugs,
a hairy goosegog proffered between muddy fingers
and popped into an unsuspecting mouth
to be spat out with a shudder of disgust!
A lusty laugh.
A tweaked nose, held by forefinger and thumb,
a peek-a-boo game from behind the rocking chair,
a shoulder ride to the village to buy
an accumulator for the wireless,
One last sticky kiss on
his old man’s grey face,
as he lay on his deathbed
strategically placed by the parlour fire
to comfort his last earthbound hours.
If I am feeling
down and out,
If my world
is upside down;
I know there
is a certain someone
who will take
away my frown.
~
She makes me
feel so special,
she makes sure
that I am aware;
that even though
we are far apart,
If I need her,
she'll be there.
~
In fact, it is she
who is so special
In all the different
ways there are;
She is my rock,
she is my daughter,
In my firmament,
my first born star.
©
Copyright
VMM
2004
Louise growing up
A carefree child
Loving and giving
But slightly wild
~
She tormented her sister
She drove us all mad
With her constant questions
The energy she had.
~
The noise she made
Was enough for two
How to go quietly
She hadn’t a clue
~
There was only one time
She wasn’t shouting or leaping
That was the time
Our little darling was sleeping.
~
Flibbertigibbet
Will-o-the-wisp
Had nothing at all
On our little miss.
~
She chatted or gossiped
Her way through the day
Her one aim in life
Uninhibited play.
~
Now she’s a woman
With children of her own
Sympathy! at last
For her old mum she’s shown
~
Louise fully grown
Is a beautiful mother
~
But, sometimes.. just sometimes
There are shades of that other!!
©
Copyright
VMM
2004
The last time
I saw you
they were
taking you away;
someone
whispered gently
you’ll see her later today.
Sleep now,
you really need to rest;
your babies need warmth,
you know it’s for the best.
After some hours
your tiny sister
was brought to my side;
in that very instant
I knew
that you had died.
You fought bravely
at least
they told me so;
they wouldn’t let me see you
So, how could I ever know.
During that
fleeting moment,
before they took you
away from me,
I saw you struggle to take a breath;
a haunting scene to see.
That single image
stayed with me ever since.
Your identical twin sister though
has managed to convince,
that had you lived
another image
I would see,
one just as lovely
and beautiful as she.
Copyright
VMM
2004
I saw death in those beloved eyes.
Once, they had been a vibrant shade of blue.
Now the years had washed them with countless tears,
And turned them into a pale and greyish hue.
The face, was still the face I had loved
Throughout my childhood, into womanhood and middle age.
The body lying gross on the bed was not the real you,
Just a cruel parody, a clown acting daft on the stage.
Now it is over my love, now you are gone ... but ...
I’ll remember you,
the birding boy,
the angling boy,
the scrumper,
The summer sunshine boy,
who was hauled from the canal a splutter.
The footballer,
the boxer,
the joker,
the high jumper.
The boy who was my protector, who cried when I got hurt.
The young man who sat by my bed when they thought I might die.
The proud young airman wearing the Queens uniform.
I’ll remember you my brother ... slim, young and vital,
on my memory’s kinder eye.
~~
For My Beloved Brother Roger
(1937-1999)
©
Copyright
VMM
2004
.Our Mulberry Love
~~~
We found each other in our mulberry days
When the blood was meant to be cool and sane.
We laughed and talked... grew breathless,
then recognition became, oh, so plain.
Conversation halted, Our eyes met... Held... we knew,
We had been given something special, granted only to the few.
Love had come to visit a second time;
Life offered us another chance.
Another bite of the sweet red cherry,
Another tango in the universal dance.
This time the dance wouldn’t end till both of us were done;
Dancing into death and eternity,
forever, on and on and on...
©
copyright
VMM
2004
.One Last Time…
A Villanelle to my late daughter.
~~
I wish I’d seen you one last time
I could at least have said goodbye
Held you, told you that you were mine.
Here I am, now well past my prime,
Yet, when I dwell on you I cry,
I wish I’d seen you one last time
To print your image and refine
Your angels face in my mind’s eye,
Held you, told you that you were mine.
My Summer is in steep decline,
Mulberry days are drawing nigh;
I wish I’d seen you one last time.
Our spirits may yet intertwine
Out from this mortal coil, could I
Hold you, tell you that you are mine?
Death may not be our end of line
Together we may get to fly.
Yet, I wish I’d seen you one last time
Held you, told you, that you were mine.
©
Copyright
VMM
2004
Gilly's not a wallflower
Who stands against the wall
Gilly's not a lupin
All skinny stalk and tall
Gilly's not a violet
Who shrinks beneath the bushes
Gilly's not a rose in bloom
all pink and perfume blushes
Gilly is my sister
Winter, summer, spring or fall
No matter what the season
She's the lovliest flower of all.
©
Copyright
VMM
1999
Last night I dreamed I was a child again
with friends, siblings, playful and full of fun.
Last night I ran free, supple without pain,
laughing, breathless in the heat of the sun.
feeling it’s rays warm on my up turned face.
Squealing in rare delight at being young
chasing companions through the open space
of forbidden fields where corn shoots had sprung.
~~~
Last night was just a dream of bygone days
that cannot return in reality;
kith and kin have gone their separate ways
aged now, but still I love them mightily.
Our old bones complain, but our glad hearts sing
with golden memories yesterdays bring.
©
copyright
VMM
2004