J. Brookes
The Aunts
Pine-clad down the singing chapel
another uncle that I barely knew
flows out into the afternoon
to start a new life underground
or scattered somewhere dear to him.
The organ wheezes as we step
from creaking pews into the sun
where someone waves, and over there
mob-handed stand the merry aunts
plotting pubs and latest trains.
So, in the City Arms saloon
we drink away the afternoon
toasting the uncle newly dead
and those of us still pushing on
till suddenly it's later than we thought,
the aunts and cousins behind prams
are waving back while running hard
for waiting trains, and later
in the corner of a crowded carriage
I look out at the passing darkness
and think about the unknown uncles
falling like a view of trees
and of the aunts, now newly strange,
rising behind them like a mountain range.
another uncle that I barely knew
flows out into the afternoon
to start a new life underground
or scattered somewhere dear to him.
The organ wheezes as we step
from creaking pews into the sun
where someone waves, and over there
mob-handed stand the merry aunts
plotting pubs and latest trains.
So, in the City Arms saloon
we drink away the afternoon
toasting the uncle newly dead
and those of us still pushing on
till suddenly it's later than we thought,
the aunts and cousins behind prams
are waving back while running hard
for waiting trains, and later
in the corner of a crowded carriage
I look out at the passing darkness
and think about the unknown uncles
falling like a view of trees
and of the aunts, now newly strange,
rising behind them like a mountain range.
Page(s) 12-13
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