In the time when the sun

still shone on the West

my mother used to sunbathe

in her garden

joined by a lizard that basked with her

...

she would chide my father

when his appearance caused

the reptile to scurry back

its home

she could anticipate the hatching of hedge birds

sometimes keeping her husband waiting

delaying a shopping trip

or a visit to a relative

in order to be present at the births

once the hatchlings followed her into her home

becoming entangled in net curtains

she freed them and pointed them

in the right direction

my father still talks reverentially

about some of my mother’s attributes

as though he has at last realized

that he had for five decades

been in the company of an amazing creature

(her name was Rhiannon

and before we knew her

she was from another world

we can only read about

in ancient chronicles

in the littoral language

of our family)

updated by @paul-steffan-jones2: 11/24/19 06:16:51PM