Care Hame - by
I gove sae lang at ae space –
whit else tae dae? –
I’m seein the white o ma ain een.
ageing
My Heart Leaps Up - by
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Approaching Sixty - by
In the Central Café
/ in Innsbruck,
/ a girl in a dark-blue dress
/ unlooses her hair from its clasp
/ so it falls to her waist,…
Remembering Friends Who Feared Old Age and Dementia More than Death - by
No one
Looks forward to being old and alone,
The carer with a spoon,
Visitor gone
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs - by
That’s me in the painting.
/ My face smooth and brow clear,
/ for I do not worry over
/ what I cannot see.
To Margaret on a Monday - by
I saw you from my window, Margaret.
/ I was watching the seagulls swooping the sky.
/ The seagulls, I was telling myself, know
/ today…
Almorness - by
The tide is sidling up to Almorness, / unmet by those returned now north & west / away from here.
The Way - by
Friend, I have lost the way.
/ The way leads on.
/ Is there another way?
/ The way is one.
/ I must retrace the track.
/ It’s lost…
On a Birthday - by
Time, why are you going so fast?
/ I like not furious paces.
/ Milestones glimmer and then are past,
/ …
As Time Draws Near - by
As time draws near
/ the end of our days
/ and the plates fall
/
/ away from our knees,
/ let us not be…
End Matter - by
i. You’re at the postscript stage,* I read.
/ …
The going - by
‘The going is harder’
/ he advised me
/ ‘as one gets older.’
/ I didn’t believe him.
/ After all, he was old
/ and the old are like…