seen in Lincolnshire
seen in Lincolnshire
heading for Grimsby
on the Humber Flyer
a tractor collision
caused a minor delay,
through my back-seat window
I glanced at a graveyard
and spotted displaced earth –
piled to refill a grave –
some flowers – not many –
no black suited mourners
just one wreath, ‘goodbye, dad’,
‘goodbye, dad’ – nothing more,
and a weeping woman
wringing tear-chapped hands,
hands that dad had caressed
gulping final breaths and
loving her with his eyes
(he could no longer speak) –
he was her everything
not that much – just her dad
as the Flyer moved on
I grabbed my camera
(the photo’s on my wall)
and could not help thinking,
‘if day by day they have
new bodies to bury
but nobody moves there
the village will empty
and when the last man dies
who’ll dig for the digger?’
on the Flyer’s return
twilight drowned the view but
a brooding loneliness –
a sullen lowering
quietness, filled the air,
the girl would be home now,
making tea, being brave
while dad’s remains remain
turning back to earth in
the sanctum of his grave.
© coolhermit 2022
Views: 192
(@guaj)Your vignettes always make me think and I see the World in Sepia tints
(@coolhermit)thanks again, Guaj – ah, sepia, the colour of my inner man 🙂
Rick
this had been written in tanka format (5/7/5/7/7 syllables per line – however when I started to edit it there were far too many gaps for the reader to bridge so I rewrote it and somehow it evolved itself to 6 syllable lines.
(@bhi)I now leave time in my day to make a cup of darjeeling and enjoy your vignettes. There is so much to dip into – there goes another digestive!
(@coolhermit)I hope your digestive did not sog into the cup 🙂