12th January

I’ll write

You a word or

Two, here in

The dark, here’s

My word sounding

Bright through the

Night, I hope,

To you over

There, squared

Out in my mind’s

Eye, through the

Cold dead window

Blocked out with

Ice-mist then

Blind.

Comfort my night,

Warm my thin

Neck and cool

Teeth , set crooked

On this tongue.

Eileen Merer, born May the 6th 1927, married 11th September 1945, died 28th August 2009.

 

 

 

Grandma dead

Beyond all things

We see and touch,

With Grandpa, maybe,

Somewhere else.

 

Clothes hang vacant,

Cool, on the rail.

Downstairs, pots and

Pans know no

Nasi Goreng now,

Nor Kedgeree.

No eggs for breakfast

Fresh from Sally.

 

In the garden,

Deck chairs gape,

Quiet is the gravel

Now. Rosemary and bayleaf

Need no watering, yet,

Unwatered, still.

 

In the street roses

Bloom round the

Door, windows look

Through open curtains

And the cottage waits

For other lives and

Hopes for kindness,

As before.

 

[29^th August 2009]