POEM OF THE MONTH

Gran

Maybe I didn’t hold you
All those lonely, lonely times...
But you were always on my mind.
Elvis

You scribble “Are you married?” I reply,
“You came to my wedding twenty years past
To Melanie? - here’s a photograph.”
You write “She’s very pretty” - and I smile;
You add “Who are you?” and I meet your eye
With “I don’t know, do you?” which makes you laugh
And recognise a boy you gave a bath
And bussed to Bristol zoo in days gone by.

You lived in secrets. Even ‘Doris’, your name,
Might stop us loving you if it got known.
The truth is, how they did things “Years Agoal”
When truth stalked cupboards like a skeleton
Thrust hidden hurt upon you, whom we loved.
The truth, the only thing that lasts, is love.

© Gareth Calway, August 2001