Don’t Blame Jane Or Liam

by Paul McCann

She met him on a Tuesday and she took him by the hand ,
from her sisters little flat to the place where they had planned .

She drove down to the railway station and parked her car there ,
where some blackbirds perched on rooftops in the clear morning air .

She wore a red dress , underneath a jacket emerald green
and on her feet the highest heeled shoes anyone has seen .

When she walked her foot steps were taken slowly and with care,
its no wonder she got glances from people who were there .

A black hat on her head covered her long blonde silky hair ,
that fell over her shoulders,
in the morning sunlight there .

Her nephew’s name was Liam ,
he wore a tea shirt and blue jeans ,
he looked older than he was for a lad still in her teens .

As he stepped out of the car
in his soft white canvas shoes ,
he looked at his Aunties face
and she smiled with some amuse .

He remembered as a boy ,
jumping up and down with joy ,
when he received from his aunt Jane another brand new toy .

A sense of nostalgia and kindness
had suddenly come ,
as the train arrived they had to grab their luggage and run .

To catch the train on the platform before it went away ,
she found it hard to run in high heels on that summers day .

So Liam ran ahead to hold the train up for his Aunt Jane ,
who could never have caught the train
if it wasn’t for Liam .

Jane took her nephew Liam
on a holiday for week ,
to a place by the beach ,
where she could listen to him speak .

For Liam was not to blame ,
for the divorce in his mums life ,
as his Father John has found someone else to be his wife .

Liam was hurt inside
and felt angry with everything ,
Jane herself remembered the time she felt a similar thing .

She reached out a helping hand , provided a listening ear,
as sometimes people need to talk with someone who is dear .

Jane had been in Liam’s life
since the day that he was born
and felt sad because
at a young age Liam had to mourn .

He loved his mum and dad so much
and couldn’t understand ,
why something’s in life don’t often go the way he had planned .

When Jane got on board the train
Liam lit up a cigarette,
to calm himself down as sometimes he would begin to fret .

Post traumatic syndrome ,
after his parents sad divorce ,
it was all too much for Liam ,
who had a breakdown of course .

The week away with his Aunt Jane
was like an escape hatch ,
from all those dark asylum days,
were all the doors are latched .

It was a touch of Paradise ,
a beach with his Aunt Jane ,
but it was still too much for Liam ,
as he was half insane .

So in the quiet of the night
he kissed his Aunt on the cheek
and the holiday was over in much less than a week .

In the dawn as she rose ,
Jane had found the suicide note
and she read with tears in her eyes
each word that Liam wrote .

Since that day Jane and her sister have never spoke again
because of the blame attached
to sudden death of Liam .

How could giving some one a holiday
end up so wrong,
sometimes there’s no answer why
and we have to carry on .