When Mum was newly dead and gone
It was up to my wife and I
To clear out her Flat in Wales.
That was when we realised
The junk and stuff we all keep
Will be a pain for our kids
To clear out when we too are dust.

And there's tragedy in it too:
It's how little is left to 'want'
By we who succeed their lives.
A cupboard filled to brim
With papers of all sorts,
Letters,pamphlets going back
Ages and ages it seemed.

In this cupboard lived albums.
I knew they rested there,
Full of photographs from times
When I was just a baby. But,
The main one was missing. 

For God's sake!  Who would

Steal someone's personal memories?
I could understand the missing

Silver coasters - they were valuable.

But someone elses photographs?

Also in that messy cupboard

Were her dance certificates
From lessons that she took

In the eighties, in Brighton.
She was so proud of those!

So I've kept them.

They remind me Of the time

She asked me to spray her
Dance shoes with silver paint.
I made a good job of them,

As she did with her dance exams.



© Griffonner 2024