And so it is
Splashing through rain to hospital
to where my heart lies bleeding,
I hold her hand as she lies sleeping,
and so it goes, and so it goes.
My mother wears the ring she wore
more than seventy years before,
a girl pledged to a sailor-boy,
who lived through war,
survived, he was a vision in her eyes,
and so it goes, and so it goes.
This orphan-man made it home to her
to build a life with scarce resources
after the forces: work, money, children
and so it goes, and so it goes.
On a mild mid-September day
we buried this man she loved,
and now I try to help her live
without him.
I'm doing all I can
but failing, failing, failing
and so it goes, and so she truly goes.
My lovely mum, Joyce May Prince, died on the 14th June, 2022
John Marks
Mon 9th Jan 2023 22:41
Thank you Uilĺeam, Hélène, Stephen A. Stephen G. Holden. Frederick & Melinda.
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Christina Rossetti