sixteen

 sixteen

she was only sixteen 

only sixteen 

but she was old enough 

to fall in love

and she fell in love 

with me

i was only nineteen 

only nineteen 

when i put her in 

my very best poem

and she is still in love

with me

a snowy dusk

 a snowy dusk 

all have walked that lane

and sometime have asked why

the moon seems cold and lonely 

the snow hard crisp and dry

and in turning corners

turning the night the way

the ambling takes no prisoners

the day the day did die

see now it settles

by a fireside forlorn

oh take me back i beg you

to the day that i was born

the last train home

the last train home

the past is a departing train

with hands that slip apart

and waving grows tiny

until the tunnel swallows 

the red tail light

and we turn away  

in the 1950s

 in the 1950s

uncle ben had agoraphobia

uncle teddy double pneumonia

grandpa died without a voice

dr rees said his voice box had turned over 

when auntie hannh was up the sisterhood 

grandpa was my father’s father

he had a hairy vest and a muffler

saw aunty bessie yesterday

aunty ethel smoked woodbines incessantly 

uncles george and leslie were bachelors

all their possibilities were yesterdays

ronnie and davy were in the navy

danny in the merchant navy

big noises in the war my mum said 

gunners both 

but the laugh had been shot down

yes said aunty may yesterday

it seemed like nannas and grandpas

we’re alive and willing to give me a shilling

for some comics in the sweet shop

aunty dylis was as highly strung as a trellis 

uncles walty and willy were very silly

drinkers both and quick with an oath

alcoholics fall over 

ivor had been a commando in the war 

dad said

he would walk through a brick wall 

they all came home to me in 1953

but they are dead now

i tell me nieces and nephews 

here in the 2020s

adage in a bandage

adage in a bandage

her badge said -

‘beneath these clothes i am completely naked’

dare i take her badge

the truth seems so naked

but so is a lie

but   too late

she has turned away

‘too late now’

my badge said

what could have followed

didn’t take off

piquant had been pinned again 

she sent a selfie

she sent a selfie

the night was blue

the windows red

i am ready 

she said

overture you 

a series of haiku

 if you still cannot see

      that he is invisible

then he has arrived

can the blind see 

darkness

if there is no light

can we see

the stone’s inside

if there is no hammer

when a thought

departs

who will know

see this finger

pointing 

follow it