Play it again Sam!

We had made plans for when you retired;

Dancing;
You loved it as much as I loathed it.
Of course you were like a little Springbok;
light and quick on your feet, while I …
well let’s just say, that foot cream was
an essential accessory of any waltzing
partner of mine – that or steel toe-caps!

Golf;
My mistress! How many Sundays did
you spend in the garden, pruning, while
I met up with friends and chased that
fiendishly elusive ‘Par’ or ‘Birdie’.
Coming home weary, stiff and sore,
explaining the near misses, the might-have’s
and should-have-been's. You tried
so hard to understand my excitement.

Movies;
A passion shared! No trouble here!
We ‘started’ in the movies; quite
literally. I visiting the old Odeon in
Woolwich; my favourite haunt, when on
Sunday afternoons, they showed real movies,
with real pre-‘Technicolor’ stars.
Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart,
Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, Bette Davies…
You; working there, walking down the aisle
During the short interval, with you tray of
Cigarettes, ‘Swan Vesta’ and confectionery.
I purchased my usual bag of ‘Bull’s Eyes’ and
we discussed the upcoming feature, which
happened to be ‘Casablanca’. You told me
that you had seen it thirty three times, to which I
replied, ‘you must remember this…!’

There are no cinemas showing these real
movies any more, so I purchased a fancy
top of the range, forty two inch, wide screen T.V.,
a state of the art, surround sound, ‘home cinema’
system. I had wanted to bring the cinema to you!

I sit here watching our favourite; ‘Casablanca’ and
when our song comes through the five speakers, a
terrible sadness visits me.
I had them play it at your funeral, as they carried your
coffin from the church to the graveyard.
Now it brings back all the wonderful memories of
the life we shared and the love we created.
I wonder, what will become of me now that you’re gone
and…as time goes by?