Of tangled thoughts
undelivered smiles
family heads
squared against

incursion;

Of regrets pickled
with neighbour rankles
and forty year refractions
of a year old’s gurgles

bib held against distraint;

Of papers raked for friends
snicked with tears
and Great-Aunt’s crocks

dust-supping china;

Tapes old tunes chew
her breath for ostinato
off-white walls leak grey

on gas fire logs;

Grass crowds abandoned paths
roses bedded down for good
grand-father coughing
through another

mizzly Thursday;

“Stupid old biddy”
keeps the doors barred
– crumpled bills
keep her days spent
– exhausted doctor
keeps her back bent.

On the clock’s remembered chime
a child’s voice sings
in angel tones

and she’s back;

Husband tall, warm,
her son trebling “Danny Boy”
and her proud to sinning

she smiles;

But no one’s there to see.

29 jan 09