(A poem for Valentine's Day.  I framed this and gave it to Our Gert. She hangs it up at the back of the settee where it can't be see.  Cowperthwaite was the irascible old vicar who married us.  He ate enough for three at the reception).

 

We have a photo stowed away

That’s taken on our wedding day;

In truth it does not flatter us –

My double chin, your mountainous

Bosoms occupying all

The shot in their supported sprawl.

 

But when I make comparison,

When all is said and all is done,

Accept the compliment I pay,

You’re so much lovelier today.

 

Yes, after all these years have flown

The bones may ache, the skin lose tone

And certainly the hair has greyed

But still the feistiness has stayed!

 

I never thought back on that day

When Cowperthwaite had had his say

We’d be together in old age

(And nor did you I’d have to gauge).

 

And who’d have thought we’d never part?

I say this truly from the heart,

I think when I see it again,

You’re so much lovelier than then.