Last weekend I unexectedly found myself driving through the little mill town in Cheshire where we lived from 1960 to 1970. It turned out to be a very affecting experience.
I missed you this morning when I went back to Bollington
Chasing up the shadows of a time long gone
Missed you in the place where we made our first home together
Still looks the same though it’s forty years on
Missed you when I drove past The Olde Cock and Pheasant
Nice drop of Boddington’s - your favourite beer
Then past St Oswald’s where the boys were christened
The school and the corner shop - they’re both still there
Missed you when I stopped by our little farm cottage -
An Aga in the kitchen and nappies on the rail
And then at the big house we had to move on to -
The babies kept coming - now it’s up for sale
Missed you in the High Street where the shops are familiar
Then under the aqueduct and up by The Mill
Along the canal bank where the ducks are still squawking
And looking for White Nancy up on Kerridge Hill
You weren’t there to share with me our own special memories
I left it too long and you weren’t there to share
I missed you this morning when I went back to Bollington
I missed you... I missed you... you should have been there…..
[Local landmark White Nancy]
11 comments:
While he stays in your thoughts and you cherish these memories,
Though his physical presence is no longer there,
You still hold the joy of that loving relationship.
He will always be with you - you always can share.
A lovely, poignant post Judith.
Thank you Avus, that is so nice! It shows that I have managed to put across the feeling I was experiencing. I find it takes a fairly high charge of emotion to kick-start a poem in my head - or do I mean heart?!
Very nice. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey (USA) so I have a soft spot for small towns.
oh yes.. a high charge of emotion. Your heart writes well. so well it brings tears to mine.
Beautiful, just beautiful and so moving. Brought tears to my eyes, but in a good way
Beautiful Judith. Very moving.
Thanks to all of you who have told me you were moved by this. If I have brought tears to someone's eyes, I know that I can write, at least some of the time. I dropped a few while writing it, believe me.
6.30am in Australia.
Second reading.
Tears.
He is with you J, because as Avus says, you remember him.
What an influence he must have been.
Nicely put.
J, have you read 'The two of us" by Sheila Hancock? It's about her life with John Thaw. It is is quite stunning...she documents their lives and her grief at the time of his illness and death.
Your words remind me of some of hers.
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