Ninety twenties, the hungry house
Eleven siblings, poor
lives of snares, plucks and dressed wild birds
More food groups through the door
Sydney, the hardest worker, blessed
Agilities here, there
Good with figures, trilby-wearing
proletariat fare
Welter-weight with heavy-weight fists
Sinatra songs after
pints of mild
No central heating
Toughness. Singing. Laughter
Six am phone calls to grandsons
then market trips
The sun.
Brushes for the nature painting
Football. Family fun
Always a socially fair man
Fair hair; the dignity
felt just,
real in those arguments
to murder monarchy
I remember gifts of fruit-filled
chocolate from Serbia
…Loving
The darts was
public utopia
Shoulders narrowing, getting old
All the steel softened, sparks
went small
The uplifting humour
The smiling with the larks
Nineteen nineties, still working hard
Still ready to knockout
intruders,
the Berkshire grumbles
the wasters,
the devout
Comments