The Return

Cool breezes stroking the water

The fishing lines cast

Grubby fingers grasping sandwiches

Cups of warm soup - early morning

The promise of trout for supper

A crackling, warm fire

The cat sleeping in the hearth, replete

Counting the takings - pounds, shillings and pence

Then a card game, Newmarket or whist

Laughter, and up to the warm quilted bed,

Begging to read in the lamplight

'Dim ond haner awr, cariad'

All a lifetime ago

Today the rattling train takes me home

The young man who held my hand by the river

Is now the old man asleep in the chair

His own hands twisted in pain

His hair white, his face lined with regret

The small child I see in the picture on the mantel

Is the woman I see in the mirror above,

Her face scarred by experience, by sadness and loss

Yet this is where I was born

This man tramped the fields with me

Kissed the hurt from grazed knees

And was strong when I was weak

For all the roads not taken, both his and mine

All the time and distance spent apart

We are joined forever in weakness, strength and love

Gaynor Madoc Leonard, 2012