the little grey lady of the sea
‘the little grey lady of the sea’
Martha’s Vineyard is running fat
with high-end Bermudas
Melissa Odabash beachwear –
well-heeled bohemia
let’s get away
take a boat trip
to Nantucket
what a spring we spent there
at the cedar-shingle hotel
with the creaking rusting sign
and the little grey creaking
maîtresse de maison
who, brushing the stoep
with a besom broom,
sang Huguenot villanelles
each day before dawn
racing boneshakers on
Main Street cobbles,
showing off, you fell off
and hobbled the holiday
your leg encased
I wrote scandalous
cast-top obscenities
where Mme Du Cros would not see
the smiling maîtresse patted your head
made you torte and cherries –
‘nourriture de confort’,
or so she said
madame died of heart failure –
a final storm too much for her
it will be good to see
where our little grey lady’ lays
I’ll gentle
a trace of your ashes
over her grave.
© coolhermit 2023
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Maybe C, you should add some wav files of you singing these lyrics.
The last verse is such a graceful and apt ending.
Thanks, however UKA has suffered enough over the past year – my singing might tip it over the edge 🙂