10 June 2008

Gone

That Generation is Gone

Dad scraping toast and yelling that I'd miss the bus
Charlie with his cap at a jaunty angle
Mum laughing till she could hardly stand
Winnie on the riverbank watching the boats go by.

Dad with black eyes in a lard-coloured carcass
Charlie succumbing to death like a drowning man
Mum remembering the bluebell wood of long ago
Winnie sucking tea through a straw.

All gone. All gone.
That generation is gone.
All of their dreaming.
All of their words.
All gone.
All gone.
Photo - The lighthouse at Spurn Point.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:27 am

    Nothing makes a person feel lonelier than the loss of their family.

    I hope that you and your wife Shirley can start to heal from the deaths you've seen, and the losses you've had to encounter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are right, YP. For that generation, it was such a different life, but I suppose people will say the same about us one day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Touching reminder of all our mortality there YP.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:45 pm

    a different life, and probably a better one

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:50 pm

    As my brother-in-law said to Mr. Goddess when dropping us off at the ferry dock after their dad's funeral: "We're all orphans now." Doesn't matter that they're both in the 40s; it does make you feel like suddenly we're the adults.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We are the memories of our kids and grandies now. It's up to us. Let's give 'em wonderful ones!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Made me cry. But I liked it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Slightly worrying that we're the grown-ups now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't think they're all gone. They're in our heads and minds. They live on that way. For sure. Their dreaming, their words, their deeds. We pass that on to the next generation and so on it goes.

    ReplyDelete
  10. EVERYONE... Thanks for your understanding comments that recognise both the inspiration for that poem and its effect and purpose. Hadriana - you were so right to suggest that that generation is by no means gone - they remain behind in our own words and our own dreams for life is a chain linking us to the past and to the future.

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits