When I was studying for my MA in Creative Writing, they asked us to write a poem. I revisited it recently and did some more work on it.
It is quite relevant to my latest book,’ Love, Honour and Annoy’, as it is about our long relationship and how it feels like a long journey to some unknown future.
Anyway, I thought I’d share it here. I’ve no idea if it’s any good as a poem, but I quite the feel of it.
Memories of Us
We set off so long ago
On a journey through life together
Slowly walking towards our unknown
We carried a suitcase full of moments
Photographs faded with time
Faces peering through mists
Waving from the past
A holiday in Juan Les Pins
Camping in forests near diamond seas
One small love-nest tent
Me on the bonnet of a now vintage car
Golden long-haired carefree
You
Skinny wavy hair smiling
Both of us children in adult bodies
Glimpses of our wedding
Blistering heat
Sitting on grass beneath the shade of a tree
Still a child
Familiar people in the background long gone
Everything ahead of us
Scotland
Loneliness among whisky-scented hills
Horses and dogs for company
You forever flying the Atlantic without me
Icicles round our door
A Labrador friend sitting with me
England
Our own home and three babies
Lovingly holding a new born
Anxiously watching as the future unfolds
A family
Walking walking together across sands
Children laughing
You and I mere players in their drama
Time running forward
Alone again walking walking
Our babies' time with us over
Their absence loud
Rooms calling them back
Two different people now
Walking walking through life
Together
Hand in hand
Carrying the suitcase of moments
Our gentle path
Meandering towards the horizon