Wednesday 12 July 2023

Celestial Silence



 I don't know if it's just me but when I try to recall my mother's voice I fail. I remember Lily Loughran's and Maisie Taylor's, our neighbours, all now passed on to heavenly pastures,  but not hers.

Celestial Silence

 

I can’t remember the sound of her voice

except sometimes 

when I click my tongue at the cat

or talk dog speak to the dog.

Then I recall the same inane babble coming from her

as she stooped over Nicky, our half breed wire haired fox terrier,

the one she called after The Thin Man.

The series ran for most of my fifties childhood 

as did her infatuation with Nick Charles.

My father, who mostly read Westerns and Thrillers,

quoting Shakespeare, probably Falstaff, used to say,

”Never trust a thin man.”

 And though we mocked all her daft foibles

her Friday night teenage antics for a TV star

she was the celestial body by which we navigated,

determined our latitude, found our true North-

Yet I  remember all of their voices but hers.

 

Copyright 2023 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved


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