Remembering Gran

Today would have been my lovely Gran’s one hundred and fifth birthday and by way of rememberance, I’d like to share with you the poem I wrote just after she passed away in 2000.

I’m not into poetry in any shape or form, in fact in English classes at school, it was my worst nightmare; I just didn’t get it or the point of it, let alone make it into something beautiful so how I came up with this is beyond me! The words were sitting in my head and I just had to put them on paper to express my love and memories of the only grandparent I ever knew.  Gran this one’s for you.

My Gran

Smiling face – humming tunes
Never a cross word – ready to play?
Rummy, pick up pairs – hunt the thimble
Wompom – cat on lap, Wonky, Muffin, Dotty too.

Fits of giggles in the mud.
Tea in bed – eiderdowns.
Dressed for breakfast – table laid
Country Store, Golden Shred – an apple a day!

Family around the table
Best china – tablecloth.
Roast lamb (Dad carving)
Apple batter with sugar and butter,
Creme caramel – yuk!
Bread & jam – rock cakes too,
Fish paste & celery – Battenburg cake.

Polish the hearth and collect the coal
Big radio and tick-tock clock.
Lots of books – Let’s play libraries!
Walks in the park – ‘Make haste’
Knitting in the early hours – ‘Gran can we do a row?’

A garden full of lovely flowers
Chrysanths, fuchsias, roses too
A fig tree and leaning apple tree.
A shed in every corner – playhouse, greenhouse,
So many hiding places! Climbing up the rockery
Hot, hot Summer days – “forty-forty see you!”

Bedtime – Buckle My Show up the stairs,
Apron on – bath time!
Fun in the tub – crisp towels
Sweets at home time – goodbye tears.

In memory of Muriel Wheeler
1911 – 2000