The expected news still shocked

Her family and loved ones at her bedside

With good humour and bravery

She passed away.

 

Was the cancer biding its time

Those wet windy evenings

On Marine Drive, Southport

Awaiting her last bus to Rufford?

 

She could not come home with me

I had no home

The upturned boat I sheltered in

Did not have room for two.

 

I was a lousy boyfriend

I did not know what boyfriends did

Or girlfriends expected

So we parted.

 

I married another

But never forgot her

Shirley was the sine qua non

I looked for in a woman.

 

She married another

That did not last

My marriage foundered too

That’s what marriages tend to do.

 

Shirley lived her life

Gave birth to her babies

Nurtured her children

Wore a new hat when they married.

 

I was, perhaps, a footnote in her life

She meant far more to me

She was my first lover

The first to welcome me into her very self.

 

I prayed when I read the news

I asked that she be made welcome

In the place she did not believe in

I waited… in silence…waiting…listening

 

I heard her voice,

“Ricky, it’s wonderful.”

I guess I’ll see her again.