Fanny's China Garden
Shards of pottery and china
remembered patterns
decorated the small garden
within her garden
underneath the apple tree
Tucking them in
beside her little flowers
she kept her memories
not quite intact
Saving careful pennies in a tin
Putting-by the six place tea-set
Paying it off Bringing it home
His comments on her silliness
Wet's tha want wi that?
Pleasure as she set the table
Polished them admiringly
Prized for Christmas and on Boxing Day
their Anniversary Anxious
watching as clumsy sons left them
on the table edge or
sideways on the saucer
Tears when a cup handle pulled
away as she washed up
clattering the cup to chip
two others and a saucer
For years she used them for herself
Her cross a tracery of flower
round the smooth translucent china
Handleless
Pain stabbing as he dropped
two plates on quarry tiles
in the scullery
Making a point
Quarter plate - part cup -
just a deckle-edge bouquet
Tucking-in the pretty bits
sharp side down
to cheer the flower border
Loss and memory growing
[...] Read more
poem by Charlotte Peters Rock
Added by Poetry Lover
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