Mnemosyne

It's autumn in a childhood I remember

how strong a love once made me feel secure,
a shadowed house that sheltered me in sleep
sun-sweetened was my life, and yet demure.

It's cold about a childhood I remember

a father who died young, only a boy
and people I once loved have gone away
with many things I used then to enjoy.

It's empty down a childhood I remember

I had no sister with whom I could play,
no brother who would fight me in a tease
I grew up lonely, hid myself away.

It's lonely in a childhood I remember

no noise of children but the talk of gran,
We never left the house, only for walks
in sombre woods to pick Pieds de Moutons

It's dark about a childhood I remember

My gran has gone, so has my mum, remarried,
she moved away and found herself a man
and did not care where lay my father buried.

But I still celebrate his long gone birthday
each May I think of him, cold and forgotten
when spring sprays perfumes over all decay.