Poems - Sue Young

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I don’t want you to go away – you say that you must go,
So won’t you tell me what it is that has upset you so?
My day had started well enough – you kissed me when we woke –
You cooked  my usual breakfast and fell silent  when I spoke.

You listened to each word I said and naturally agreed
Then went to do the washing-up to give me peace to read.
You drove me to the station so I could catch my train,
Then went back home to do your tasks ‘till needed once again.

So I made the tiny error of forgetting your birthday,
But it’s never worried you before in such a silly way.
I know I didn’t send a card – I find choosing one’s a chore –
But you’ve plenty from your family so why d’you need one more?

I’ve now given you some money to buy yourself a gift;
Surely it’s not my largess that has caused this silly rift?
I forgot to get the tickets for your favourite West End show;
It seems it’s coming off this week, but how was I to know?

You see, I had to meet my friends – tonight’s been long arranged –
That really was no reason to act as though deranged.
Tomorrow there’s the Old Boy’s Bash, then a rugger match to win,
But I’m sure I’ll find a window next week to fit you in.

Your rebellion’s got me flummoxed - today was just one day;
I can’t believe you stole my car in which to run away,
Or vandalised your kitchen, or smashed my new man-cave.
It’s not the way that I’d expect my wife to misbehave. 

My sweetheart, do consider how you’d manage without me.
Your life would lose its balance without my authority.
My knowledge and experience, my wisdom, love and care
That makes each day of marriage such an easy one to bear.

I invite you to consider how I organise your life,
Which I’ve never minded doing because you are my wife 
At all times I’ve endeavoured to respect my marriage vow,
I only wish you’d rouse yourself to do the same somehow

You surely know  you’ve shamed yourself by acting so insane
So apologise and promise me you’ll not do this again,
Then despite your foolish actions, I’ll forgive you without blame.
If you come home, I’ll say no more – we’ll continue life the same.

LOST

 

You see neglected children bow like this.

 

A shift, easy to don – and discard –

makes her shapeless

               and from it

her legs – bone thin – hang to slippers

               moulded for old age.

 

Her hair fights shy of grooming

and halos her – dry and frizzled –

rooted in large flakes

like the cradle-cap of infancy.

 

She smiles in a haze of incomprehension,

snatching at memories,

               finding  only confusion.

 

While she slept strangers,

               with a shimmer of familiarity

have filled her parlour.

 

Embarrassed, she retrieves a shred of modesty

               to apologise

and, recalling hospitality,

               offers tea.

 

But she has no kitchen

and is not in her parlour –

the familiar strangers not family

but carers who make her tea.

 

Her smile trembles into bewilderment

               again

and her fragile fragment of personality recedes

               again.

 

She sits in her allotted place amongst those

               each in their allotted place,

trailing her consciousness

               like a shadow

that disappears as she creeps

               from light to dark.

THE MASTER

I wake to find you squatting on my pillow

just behind my sight,

a presence felt, not seen,

greedily grasping to seize my consciousness.

I jerk to speed you from my morning

and, with your laugh,

know that I have done your will.

Yet still I try again,

to dislodge you from my head,

to disentangle fingers deep inside my brain,

to banish you.

I lie helpless as a sapling in a hurricane, 

as a child in storm-driven seas,

safety always a finger-tip beyond reach.

The stench of you spirals into my nostrils

like the cigarette smoke

I know cannot be there.

I am lost in your strength

playing my body

like a puppeteer its helpless manikin –

drawn in staccato movements

into the darkness of fractured memory

and lost will.

You take me – you toss me;

you control me – you confine me;

you dominate me – you degrade me.

As you win – I lose;

as you gain ascendency – I diminish;

as I slip from my world

I know that once again you are my master.

THE NATURAL ORDER

While men can freely perspire a woman may only glow

Men can debate and discuss things whilst all woman gossip so

A man’s an omniscient creature, a woman’s an ignorant soul,

That’s why man on his own is just perfect, but woman needs man to be whole.

A man can discourse with authority, a woman should listen with awe

A man’s view is always of interest but a woman’s opinion’s a bore

Men can be loud and assertive, a woman the same is just rude

And a man tells witty stories where a woman’s considered crude.

A gentleman’s work is exhausting, a woman must find time to spare

A man can further his own career but a woman has always to care.

A man will shop with a purpose whilst woman shop mainly for frip,

A man will travel on business, a woman on a little trip.

A man can dress like a hobo but a woman must always be neat,

A man should always be winning and a woman should always be beat.

Man should order his household, woman accede to his rule,

A man stay seated wherever he is whilst a woman responds to his call.

A man must make the decisions and a woman must always be led,

A man partake of his pleasure whilst a woman lies passive in bed.

A man’s an incisive thinker, woman’s an impressionable soul

Any woman who wears the trousers is a dyke usurping man’s role.

But there’s women wearing stilettos and make-up and perfume and gems,

Who out-think and out-shine the fellows but remain defiantly femme.

No wonder some men are cross-dressing and wearing mascara and pearls

For now to feel they’re superior some fellows are aping us girls!