me six, you still seven
By JupiterMoon
- 1409 reads
me six, you still seven
as the country shivered
through another winter
not quite discontent –
but undoubtedly bitter
for the woman from grantham
bringing a savage blizzard from the east
the first girl
i ever held hands with,
was electrocuted in her bath
when all but one
returned to school
after an unsuspecting christmas,
death waited soundlessly
within the frost
and the frozen pipes
the specifics won’t take shape;
yet i remember
how a school of less than thirty-nine
grieved:
how the colour leached from our paintings
how our end-of-term decorations
swiftly wounded us
how we caught moments
from behind the brave mask
of the teaching staff,
one laying a hand on the arm of another
in a corridor with no lights
another dragging away tears
with a white-knuckled fist
rummaging a desk
for something they didn’t need
that first time we had held hands
was in the lunch queue
you took charge –
me five,
you seven –
all our food was cold that day
that day after christmas,
they told us you’d gone to heaven
when spring bent bluebells
grown-ups talked inflation,
then our school milk went
like you did;
without a goodbye
for a time then
we had a secret;
me six,
you still seven,
waiting patiently for me
most days in the lunch queue
we no longer held hands
though you were often there;
misty and just out of reach
by the time i was six-and-a-half,
bringing up the rear
of a school summer photograph,
a decade of greed had begun
beyond the playground
no one spoke your name anymore,
and i spent more time
searching the lunch queue,
than finding you
you’d gone
and with you,
keeping you warm and safe along the way –
the light from my eyes
- Log in to post comments
Comments
What a tender, painful poem.
What a tender, painful poem. Those childhood deaths stay but somehow in a different way. I imagine her small but confident hand.
- Log in to post comments
This is our Facebook and
This is our Facebook and Twitter pick of the day. Do share it.
- Log in to post comments
Absolutely beautiful, and
Absolutely beautiful, and wonderfully anchored in its time and place.
- Log in to post comments
This beautiful piece is our
This beautiful piece is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!
Picture Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yxzr3up2
- Log in to post comments
My word, this is a powerful
My word, this is a powerful and beautiful poem. Thank you.
- Log in to post comments