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Friday 17 November 2017

THE BEND IN THE ROAD


We thought it would come quietly,
the final bend in the road;
we shored ourselves up, with
pots of tea, evening crackers
and Sunday nights in Downton Abbey.

Seventy-four years ago,
you walked down the aisle with me;
a pair of jaundiced eyes wouldn't keep
you from marrying me.

Sometimes the morning light
catches the emerald in my ring;
my fingers catch the chords of notes
you liked to hear me play.

Here we are, you and I,
a litte stuck today -
I, tucked up in our bed,
and you, in your room,
many miles away.

But the lamp is on,
and when tomorrow comes,
beside you, I will stay.


I wrote this poem last year for my beloved Mary on John's 95th birthday. These are wrenching times for Mary, because she is separated from John, who is too ill to live at home anymore. Five days after their wedding John left to be with the RAF, but then he came back, and then the children came, and then, and then... life... all of life. And then one day Mary met my father, who was a medical student of John's at Addenbrooke's, the same hospital I now haunt. And then years later she met my mother. More years passed. And then my brothers and I. I was fifteen and my life has been the richer, the more beautiful, the truer for her friendship. Lucky, lucky me. 

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful words of a beautiful friendship. True and lasting friendship, a thing to be cherished.
    Anna :o]

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    1. Thank you Anna, it truly is a thing to be cherished.

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  2. What a story of a long and lovely life... still that separation in the end is heartbreaking.

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    1. It is wrenching - and yet on we have to go...

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  3. I love the shoring up with crackers, cups of tea, and Downton Abbey.......what a long and lovely love story they have shared. And what a beautiful friendship between your families.

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  4. P.s. so lovely to see you linking, kiddo.

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  5. Very moving. It's hard at the end, and harder the more love there is but without the love, everything else would have been dust. Great job evoking your friend.

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  6. I have just read your poem about Mary and John, it's beautiful, I have known them since I was small in the 50s, can't belive she is 104, fantastic lady.

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  7. Beautiful words - I bet she felt lucky to have you in her life too :)

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