Anne Grimes
Endings
The letter announcing his marriage
chinked through the box-flap
on the wedding day itself,
the day of Churchill’s funeral.
I am, he said, less than euphoric.
That she could believe. All their time together
he’d lived in terror of becoming
a pipe and slippers man.
His bride, four months pregnant
(had she trapped him?
Probably not. The girl was very young
and he always careless)
insisted, it turned out later,
on the full works,
cake, marquee, reception,
bridesmaids, white dress.
What prompted him
after so many months
to write those words
on the blank of their parting?
Outside the window a cherry tree,
denuded now by the November wind,
raked its branches
against the pane
She watched the funeral on her black and white telly.
The lone black horse behind the gun-carriage,
the dark barge
bearing his body away.
Page(s) 30
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