Child

CHILD

Child, you were nourished nine months
while your mother grew
Skilfully you were removed from that home

Child, tube-fed in an incubator,
you would not learn to suck
till illness and hunger forced

Child, you lived and fought three weeks
resisting pain, refusing death
till in the end your heart gave way

Child, you gave us three and a half weeks
of memories our minds will cherish
long after the tears have dried

Child, we are happy you came to us
We praise God for the joy you brought
into all of our lives

Child, beneath the soil of your little garden
you have staked for us a place
in the cemetery we love

Child, you only saw faces masked
and women who wore white aprons
outside your oxygenated hot-house

Child we don't know the reason
why you came but only thank you
that you came

Child, our child, our first, we pray
remember us with love as now you sleep
We who remain awake remember you

© Gerald England

Composed: Oldham, 25th October 1975

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1976 Pennine Platform (UK)
1977 Compassionate Friends Newsletter (UK)
1990 International Poetry Suplemento (USA)

Homage to Ruth

HOMAGE TO RUTH

On the seventeenth you came
from your mother's womb
sixty-plus years and a day
after the grandmother
whose name you bear
And on the seventeenth next
you were lowered into the tomb
freshly dug for you and
for your family that follow

The Lord gave you to us
and for three heavy weeks
you were our joy, our hope,
and our future

Your little life fought hard
You showed your will
When the nurses fed you through your nose
disregarding pain your tiny hands
yanked out the plastic tube
your nose upturned in contented peace

Late on the twelfth your heart gave out

We thank God for those three weeks
We praise him in our grief
He wipes away our fears
and dries our requiescent tears
We have learnt what it is to grieve
We have passed through the severity
of our sufferings

and we are finding that incomprehensible peace
which always will be yours

© Gerald England

Composed: Oldham, 25th October 1975

Publications

1977 EYES (Huddersfield, Sight Saving Association)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)

(c6)

the trouble with John's
wife is that she has two tongues
but only one ear

© Gerald England

Composed: Oldham, 5th May 1975

Publications

1981 Magma (UK)
1987 <1>Red Pagoda (USA)

******
tomo no tsuma
nimai no shita to
mimi hitotsu.

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada.

Publication

1987 <1>Red Pagoda (USA)

(c5)

from the fence he could
see either side but never
both sides together

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Oldham, 5th April 1975

Publications

1990 Prophetic Voices (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1992 And What of Tomorrow (UK)