THE SORROW OF THE HALF DREAM

If she still walked on planet Earth
would she still flibertigibbet along

and would she be out there in middle age
with banners and flags and arguments

and would her children be like whirlwinds
as she was flying about the place

all bright and shouty and moody
bringing our current brood out

and leading them into all kinds
of divillment and wreaking havoc

and who would have sired them
that big Latin-European boy maybe

and to where in the world would
we have chased to be with them

early morning half sleep memory
whips up a whirlwind of panic

as if it were just yesterday
we first learned of her going

Peter Clarke