A poem from 2016
Bill’s wife (first wife)
Darling all his adult life
Died two years ago
Felt this had come too soon
In a haze
All days
Eventually
He
Started socialising
(His children had to force him)
His local community centre
Afternoon tea dancing
He had no taste for it
But did it
Danced a bit
Met Elsie
Spinster of this parish
The light came back into his eyes
He hasn’t forgotten his first love
Imagines she’s smiling from above
To see him smile again
Barely 19
Flush of youth
Callum and Leigh
Can’t take their eyes off each other
Can’t afford much
Student life
Man and wife
That’s a novelty
Bedsit’s a bit of a hovel
They don’t care
As long as they share it
Nothing else matters
Callum works in a bar to get a bit of spare cash
And every waking moment he thinks of Leigh
And she?
Studying to be a barrister
This is Ted’s fourth and Maggie’s second
Ted has eight kids (that he knows of *nudge, wink*)
Scattered amongst sundry mothers
The child support payments are killing him
But he doesn’t learn
He can’t resist
Serial monogamy
Two, three years and off he goes
More vows
He knows them backwards now
He’s happy-go-unlucky in love
He says
And life doesn’t seem to touch him
Fragmented, modern family
He’s ok
Doesn’t see the tears
And the cries: “where’s daddy gone?”
And the doomed inevitability
His kids will do the same
Well, John and Sue!
What a right pair!
Made for each other!
Rumours aplenty
Who haven’t they slept with?
That bridesmaid looked jealous as hell
You’d feel sorry for Sue
But she was at it too
While they were engaged
If the rumours are true
Can’t see leopards changing their spots
‘Nuff said about them
I give it six months
Alone
Six feet under
No wedding bells down here
Unusually I went first
It’s normally the man
Life expectancy and all that
But it was cancer
And too advanced
Bill stood by me
Held my hand in the hospital
Nothing more he could have done
My love
My only true love
