"I wish you well."
                                                          ­                    



                                         ­                                     (but not too well without me)

What names
shall we give
our children
when we get older?

Judy asked
as we walked
through the woods
behind the house

towards the lake
(as she called
the pond
in the woods)

I’m no good
with names
I said
you must

have some idea
what names to call
your children
I haven't got children

not yet but when
we're older you will
she said
the trees were

coming into leaf
the sun was straight overhead
birds were flying
from branch to branch

what if it's a girl?
she asked
I thought about
the middle spread picture

of the sports car
in the Eagle comic
I’d just pinned
to my bedroom wall

the parts number
and labelled
colourful
surely

you must have
a girl's name?
she asked
Leonore

I said
what kind of name
is that?
she said

I think it's in
that Beethoven opera
Miss Graham
made us listen to

during lessons
I said
I don't like it
Judy said

the car picture
was just one
of many I had
on my bedroom walls

I had one photograph
of Hayley Mills
in a frame
by my bed

I got it
from a magazine
on move-stars
what about Ruth?

she said
or Rebecca?
the path through the woods
was windy

there were bramble
on each side
how about Jezebel
I said

it has a certain
ring to it
don't like it
she said

gives off
a bad scene
we reached the fence
around the lake

and climbed over
she had on
that peasant
looking dress

flowered red and yellow
I caught a glimpse
of thigh
as she went over

you're not
taking it
seriously
she said

as we walked down
the grass towards
the water
sure I am

I said
I think Judy’s
a fine name
for a daughter.

I regret
Nothing in my life,
Even if my past
Was full of hurt,
I still look back
And smile,
Because*
It made me who I am today

Alone on a silent shoreline,
sea breeze emotions paint my skin
Sands of time slip away as I count the stars
wondering why so many seem to smile,
when I don’t

Storm fence pickets stand straight,
weathered of years watching
Holding at bay the impending dunes
where my footprints once shared these moments
with another

Salt water teardrops fall,
meeting the beach in sorrow’d pools
lonely silhouettes of my heart shaped shadows
empty and vacant, longing for that one
to forgive

Disenchanted sandcastles disappear with the tide
as do these words we compiled together
never to be written again, on paper or in the sand
Now I only watch my dreams fade into the horizon,
missing you