Summer Sundays

The sunny weather we’ve been having reminded me of this poem I wrote last year. It started off as a much shorter entry into a Writelink competition for a poem about summer Sundays. Then I learnt about a new poem structure, which is based on the number of syllables, starting with just one, and adding one to each succeeding line.

Anyway I thought I’d put a couple of these stanzas in my poem, reversing one of them. Although you can go on editing poems for ever, I’m not too unhappy with the result. The subject matter is very personal, and if I’m in a sentimental mood, it can still bring tears to my eyes.

Family album

On lonely summer Sundays
I take out the photo album
to help me remember
family togetherness.

There was one summer Sunday
we picnicked out at Wim Green
high above Blackmore Vale,
a family together.

We
were glad
to be there
in just one place,
romp through knee high grasss
wing toddlers in rough games
eat food sweeter than at home
enjoy the magnificent views
be one big family together.

How bitter sweet to see these pictures
of sons and daughters in good times
with partners and young offspring
before the world snatched them
far away from here.
So Sundays now
spent alone
must be
borne.

In my dreams I wander high
above the Vale and meet them
dancing in the meadow,
a family together.

PS I almost forgot that I had promised to give a mention to my pal, David Robinson's new novel, The Haunting of Melmerby Manor. It's currently available as an e-book and the paperback comes out later this summer. David has written about the hard work involved in marketing after publication as a guest blogger here.