1. Jun, 2020
Lancet windows
Catch the sky going by.
Stretched bubble thin
In their empty frames,
It’s ready to blow away again
With the winds
That scour the pale stones,
Earth heavy
But light as air up there.
The delicate bones of the Abbey
Are hollow as a bird’s.
Plundered for dressed stone
After dissolution,
Blundered at by shell fire
In later times and always
Assailed by the sea,
They still arc to their heavens
In grace,
Thanks not to prayer
But those early masons,
Who pinned them, earthbound, into place.
Ruth Enright
Two teddies are now
Both in my keeping,
Gifts to toddler grandchildren, us.
When new, Bruin was purple, larger,
With a deep growl.
My brother's.
Teddy was smaller, fawn,
Mine.
He lost his growl after an unfortunate fall
And a sink bath.
I loved Teddy with a depth which included emotional guilt.
I was jealous because Bruin was bigger and purple
And my own ted must never know of that.
I was the oldest but the girl.
Perhaps that played into who got which bear.
Bruin is no longer purple,
Faded after decades on my brother's windowsills,
At home and in his flat.
For a few years now, both have looked down from
The high shelf beside my daughter's childhood raised bed.
They leaned together, slightly forward,
As if wanting to come down.
I climbed up to get them the other day and soon saw why.
Both lambswool, moths have pecked their back legs into small
bald patches.
It's been a poignant time as my mother has lately died too.
I felt I had let them down, the two teds,
Neglected while cherished still.
I've dusted them off and put them on the coverlet
Of the single bed below,
Where they seem more contented, two old men together.
Better now, their worn little faces seem to say.