Achievement wore her smartest frock,
Held out the drapes that all might see,
For a while it danced within her frame,
Delighted at such a fiery flame,
Then quietly laid down in a box,
But its wonders did remain.

We spend our lives learning how to say goodbye
All that we love and are familiar is to be slipping
And the treasures on the wall will go to others so
I will not be sad for all will continue in the gardens.

Love Mary ***

Climbing the stairs
Pockets full of water
The son’s voice
Fell backwards
Inside of her.

Trying to explain the beauty
Of Barenboim playing Schubert
With Martha Argerich
She heard Evelyn humming
From the classical book of Trolls.

Somewhere in the South
There was talk of Derrida
And binary opposites
And social distancing
Whilst the music played on.


Love Mary **

When I look at a painting
A woman I see
Reflected in the glass
Standing behind me.

Glad to be on the way out
Than  on the way in .


Love Mary ***

Tomorrow is a special day
When from babyhood turns away
Little feet , inquisitive hands
A little girl in a new land.


Happy first birthday
To a dear granddaughter ,
Evelyn love Grandma **

Oscar, so it's  Summer,
School ends for lost boys
And errant masters, alike,
Skipping out the doors
Books still in cupboards left
Football shed untidy
With lost socks
Flapping blue-tac ends in
Open window jam wind.



love Mary

It seems to me
When you are young
And never again does it come
A sort of madness
Invades the scene
One wallks about
In another stream.

And so it came to be
On a hot and sunny day
Walking down a crowded street
Not dressed quite complete
In fact hardly anything at all
A bikini and nothing more
Went with boyfriend
Whose name was Rog
Dark and handsome
My prince frog
We went to pay a bill
For his mother
At Basildon still.

How the folks looked at me
Skipping along
In my frills
All the chaps turned around
Women whispered underground.
Everybody seemed to smile
Was this thing really allowed.

Now I am old and grey
Everybody looks away
But in my heart
I'm still that lass
Whose behaviour was
Rather rash.

Mary

We had so much fun when we were very young. Thank you my Roger.

No trespassing, the sorrows are mine
The seeing were blinkered and blind
It’s permanent, an indelibility, by star
Shimmering in the blackness of right.


Goodnight my loved ones.
Mary ***

In trying not to hate
I determined my fate
For people knew
I was kind and true
But they did abuse
The few.

And the wind
Will tell the birds,
The birds the bees,
The bees the flowers,
The flowers the people
Who carry the flowers
When I die because of
Lies.

Love Mary x

I close my eyes
And dip again
Feel the moments lie within
Move into space
Dressed in lace
The loveliness of your face.
I close my eyes and look again
What was imagined
At an end
Yet the glow
That you showed
I find it in the words we told.

In memory of Roy Orbison.

Love Mary

I wrote a list of many a yard
To be followed to the rule
A list to give my short life
A vision of a truth.

It extended all the inches I knew
Held tight to every child
Started at the top of my head
And fell with the evening star.

Love Mary x

Beauty and purpose.

In your garden I see my flowers,
Given with grace to share for a smile,
We started with roses, yarrow and thyme,
Adding poppies, géraniums and sweet dandelion;
Now it is, a herbal paradise,
Collecting fragrances pure and bright,
Healing properties grown with love,
To make people better,
Show them what's right.

To Victoria and Pieter
Love Mum ***

Sitting neatly in sweater and scarf on table bench
You lay out this meal place
And take a book into your hands
And slowly begin to read.

Thinking of a friendly face
A boy from long ago
Who knew your words then
And decided to simply stay.

Love Mary

Welham Road, Streatham.

Brown Clarks shoes all new,
Taking me back and forth to school,
In the rain and in the sun,
Skipping, dancing going for a run;
Under my bed they slept at night,
Polished and bright at morning light,
Was it the fairies that kept them clean,
Or mother's hand,
Spreading the cleaming sheen.

Love Mary **
Thank you Mum and Dad for keeping my feet straight and dry.

Between ‘Call the midwife’
And ‘Dark materials’
Lies my world
A world of reality.

Inhabited by great empathy
But mostly indifference,
Cruelty, liars and vacuous space.

It, this world, has been deteriorating
Continuously for thousands of years
Through greed, selfishness and destruction.

If tomorrow ever rescuers the day
Let it be bright with love and sorrow
And children play in the long grass.

Love Mary **

Evelyn flew over the sea
In an aeroplane above the blue
To a place she never knew
With a plot and his crew.

She went to see her family there
Amongst a land green and fair
To kiss and hug those she loves
Bringing her smile the little dove.

Grandma Janet, Uncle Jim,
If there's time go for a swim
Crawling with Grandpa is such fun
Next year I'll be able to run.

Saw a lighthouse, the crashing waves
Mummy holds me against the sway
Someone takes a photograph
Be back soon it's been a laugh.

Now it's time to go to bed
Fly over the ocean sleepy head
Back to daddy and my toys
I bet he's waiting that naughty boy.


For Alex from Evelyn and Grandma ***

A watermelon green on shelf
One tomato in isle two
And your hands to fetch
Your legs, a letter in box.

What I give you poor as I am,
A box of meteorites, a magazine,
A kiss on cheek, a hair cut or two
I would, everthing, for love of you .

Love Mary x

Startling though love is
Coming in the back door
When we know so little
Tied our hands together
On a pink collared shirt
Round a neck went arms
To take that first sweet kiss.

Love Mary

The passageway joins here and there
It combines today with yesterday
In a sequence of time
Changing forever the future
Letting in light and warmth
A union of sorts without speech
Walked quietly both ways
Frequently and without thought
But now stopping in the middle
Opening an uncertain promise
Where a dream could be made.

Love Mary **

Holiday were always spent at The Isle Of Wight
Its sandy, long beaches ideal for building castles
Floating in the shallows of the sea
Safe from rapid currents and rocky projections
It was without much tourism and low priced.

Year after year we returned to the same spots
The same  walks and the same unpredictable
Weather.
At shop counters the assistants did not change
Only the hotel owners, running at a loss the previous year.

My parents bungalow situated near to Totland bay
Overlooking field filled countryside, narrow lanes
With the sea salt reaching noses on windy days.
It was a paradise of simple meals, memories
And long conversation of the regularity of things.

Intertwined were the years of my own childhood
Playing with my brother on chalet steps as
My parents prepared the day's sandwiches
And those, taking my four across the Solent
For annual holidays visiting of grandparents.

Its True


Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

For love of you, the air, it hurts,

and my heart,

and my hat, they hurt me.

Who would buy it from me,

this ribbon I am holding,

and this sadness of cotton,

white, for making handkerchiefs with?

Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

On a wall for many years
Is a painting three foot tall
Behind the class, in a frame
A collection of artefacts displayed;
Two apples and a jug,
Reflected in an oval dish
A brightly coloured tablecloth
Orange with embroidered grapes.
Two wine bottles in green and brown
And a shell which was jumble found
Plucked in a hurry so to last
For they are known to drop
So fast
Taken from a garden tree
Placed in perfect harmony.
In a classroom, not too late
These pretty bunches
I did paint.

Love Mary **

You bring the outside to my bed
In your brightly coloured dress
Hair tied back in a ponytail
You dance about in a grassy field
The sun's gone in but do you care
Dancing around in the clear air
Wonder who you think you'll be
A circus lady home for tea
A fairy with a golden wand
Whoever it is you'll sing your song.

Love Grandma for Delphi x

I took my friend Sam to school
He did not know what to do
I sat him in a wooden chair
Then turned around he wasn’t there.

I crept out the classroom door
Scrambled along on all fours
Came to the water tap
There was Sam sapping that.

Love Mary x

Before you were mine
You looked after your father
Kept house for a man
Whose life was a disaster
His son, too, called John
Grew up to be a philanderer.
In a grey suit you worked
From nine till five
Thought each day
Could you escape
This noble role set down for you;
A sister you had
Married and free
Lived a life without much strife
So it seemed.
Then as it is the way with men
Who linger after the needs of women;
Frank, your dad,
Taken with a smile and money
Married and moved to the country
To live with Gwen and her mother.
Did he like it ?
I'm not sure
But laziness has its score.
At thirty you were not young
But beauty lay
In your dark and wavy hair
And eyes of hazel brown
That no longered frowned
For you married my dad
And I am glad
Before you were mine.

Thanks to my lovely mother Grace Emily Ayton - Robinson and to Carol AnnDuffy who so inspired me with her poem.

Love Mary ***


Love Mary
Glad to have you Mum

"It is time to go to bed my dear".
I turn towards him in my
Plain cotton nightdress.
"Shall I comb your hair
My love, it is all batterered
From the day's excursions."
I feel the comb gentle in
His hands, his warm
Breathing on my face.
That tender touch
Before nightfall.
A connection of body
And soul. Stilled together.
Enfolded in a simple task.
The tidying of a fringe.

Love Mary ***

From Totland to Alan Bay.

Climbing by path and road
Until we reached the edge
When then by turning found
It leaving the chalky cliff.

And follow out across the fields
A view to tip the eyes,
Heavenly laden with wild parsley
And fluttering butterflies.

The accent so gradual as not to tire
With sunshine overhead
The summit came slowly into sight
As did what had been hid.

Dresses blowing in the breeze
Clung all about our knees
Salty spray misted the air
And the seagulls squawked away.

Then down we looked towards Alan Bay
All glittering foaming sea
The colliding of the coloured pebbles
A wildness and free.

All our senses did explode
Our hearts began to beat
For here lay so much loveliness
Just below our feet.

Love Mary ***

I remember the flee circus
At the time I was only ten
By sixteen I began to laugh
But don’t know what it means.

I think the humour very rare
It caught you in the armchair
Only elephants venture there
To make industrial underwear.

Love Mary ***

Oh let this sun filled day
With flower head’s opening
And the grassy green ring
A circumference of circle
Perimetering the brim.

Just before leaving when
Inspiration can come in
This day of my mortality
The eternity is speechless
Under flow of bird’s wing.

Love Mary x

And so it went on sale in Knightsbridge
A little gallery hardly seen
A painting of a ceramic ***
Tiny with two eyes
Pallid in the beam.

The man bought it for its thoughts
That led him in a quiet dream
Of places where he use to hide
Memories of shelves and spaces
And childhood’s magic theme.

Love Mary ***

If I could make a garden
Planning it would need
For all the things of loveliness
I’d have to find a seed.


The first would be gentleness
To listen with its words
and then Compassion
Climbing up the old brick wall.

Intertwined with Peace
And a touch of Tenderness
Wisdom in abundance
But most of all love.

A gardener needs good tools
To **** and dig and prune
To take away the debris
Sweep with a clean broom.

When it comes to tools
The old ones are the best
Sharpened by experience
And cared for with love.

A garden must be accessible
For all that walk its ways
Giving to each and everyone
A pleasure that will stay.


Love Mary ***

It was mother's future that drawer of mine
She'd waited to collect it for a long time
Only one daughter , just engaged
So now was the chance to exchange.

Friday was a new plate for china set
A misty blue, with grey flowers etched
Each wrapped in tissue white
And tied with a ribbon stripe.

But today meals are eaten out or on ones knee
Or thereabouts
The table rarely laid with clothe and bowl
Finger dipping is the rule.

To this drawer I would inspect
Heaving the mounting treasures out
A tablecloth and kitchen box
Cutlery with rose embossed.

Love Mary

If I could have you back.
We would sit together
On that black vinyl settee
With the orange cushions
And stretched zips ,split.
With the light going down
Over the horizon
Across the fields
To the bay
And the small lampshade
Bringing comfort
Lit up the corner
Near the table
Where we had our teacups
And a bicuit tin,
Half empty.
We would talk
Later into the night
You in one armchair
And I near the table
Returning always
To put the world to rights;
It was better in the old days
When neighbours lent
A pint of milk
And you knew the man
Who sold broken biscuits
And there weren't so many cars
Two in most front gardens now.
Then you would be near asleep
And I ready to go too
But we continued
Talking on and off
Till by three o'clock
We had to stop.
If I could have you back.

Love to my dearest dad Eric William Henry Ayton -Robinson

This girl
Came to visit me
As often as could be
First in her mother's arms
Then on buggy wheels;
She played with the dolls' house
Spread out across the floor
What more could a Grandma want
Than a friend to play with the toys.


Love Grandma to Daisy ***

Send me postcards to heaven.

Send me a postcard to heaven,
To let me know who wins,
Been watching stricklycomedancing
Hope it's Debbie Magee.
Really like Ruth and Anton,
And Susan and Kevin are fun,
Davood so romantic,
And the two lads
Had great runs.

Please let Lily in Casualty,
End up in Ian's arms,
He really lacks all purpose,
But together
They might be grand.
If she goes to Hong Kong,
Letters can correspond,
But don't give up
On courting,
We've waited far too long .

Love Mary ***

Everything I lose,
Each day a little surprise,
A hoped for beauty,
Falls away,
And I am in tatters
Torn and scraped
Beside those
Ever ending
Chains.


Love Mary ***

‘ Lies in white Coates ‘

Love Mary x

Can you feel the place where I got off?
It was in a bookcase between two others
That spoke to me of a sadness carried
Tucked warmly away
So it gave protection.
You can only be hurt once
After that a switch turns down
And though you may hear the words
It is just a passing nod
And a picking up of skirts
Can you feel the place where I got off?

Love Mary x

Darling granddaughter
A fairy's name
Beautiful and gentle
A poetic refrain
In a cradle
White as snow
Curled like a ribbon
Waiting to show
All of your treasures
Saved for our pleasures
Sweet Evelyn
May your love roam.

Love Grandma ***

I went down to  mossy side where the banks are green
Filled my heart with longing and cast it in the stream
I looked at the gold fishes  swooning in the winter sun
Unbuttoned my coat and gave it to a swan
My shoes were too heavy so I lent them to a boy
I'll take them for you Miss wrap them in tin- foil.
I needed some wings so reached up to the sky
Someone dropped a pair now I can fly
Remember me in Springtime when the flowers bloom
The rest of the time have a good afternoon.

Love Mary **

Living with the Marigolds.

Kindness dwells in the hearts of few,
It encircles them like a gown,
But never is worn with mightIness,
Being humble bound.

It finds its way through thorn and briars and
knotted coastal paths,
And grows where disparity lies,
And knows of broken hearts.

It does not come from trouble free
Or selfish intent,
Living with the marigolds,
A simple garden scent.

For those who have travelled far,
Know the ways within,
Find giving more sustaining,
Than all that power can bring.

Love Mary xxxx

The River Boy.

He fell in the river that child of mine,
On the edge was perched steady and fine,
Feeding the ducks bread from his hand,
When suddenly, splash,his feet lost land;
For a second we stared at the swirling spot,
Then instinct took over I grabbed the lot,
Out came a boy as wet as could be ,
Wrapped him in cardigans, then home for tea.

Alex fell in the River Thames at Staines when he was about 6-8 years old? Do you remember son? Love Mum **

The magpie children .

They are running flying their hands through the wind,
Catching the dandelion seeds in a delight for freedom.
Out of nursery rhyme books crawling
Back memories,
Voices of maidens high pitched ,dazzling,
If I could reach them now,
Slow time to the hour
When youth took my hand, recklessly,
And spun me in the air.
Now upon my bench they sit,
These quiet solemn children
Reading my message
Given with love.

Mary xxxx

Gentle little bird
Always in grey
Like an old soft toy
I’ll take you in a box
Plop you down
In a special spot
Where there are trees
And bumble bees
A bottle of water
And sandwich too.
Gentle little bird
You were heard.

Love Mary x

Closed The Window,
Tidied the sink,
Emptied the ******* bin,
Sorted the letters,
On the kitchen table,
Watered the *** plants,
Folded the clothes,
Wiped the fridge door,
Can't say more.

Love to all my family and friends

This house on the corner with a tree
A bright green tree with fingered leaves
Is the last place for me to close a door
Pick a dandelion from a circle of grass.

A destination miles from an arrival
Where all doors keep open to the blue
Complétion of a life, my last window
To look out of and sit here with you.


Love Mary **

I watched you today on FaceTime,
A new invention of hyperspace.
You were smiling
I wanted to join in with your playing,
What was it today?
A playmobil playground
And added dinosaurs
In red , blue and green.
You made them talk
Little words from your head.

Love Grandma to Evelyn.

Paintings are not just for Reading.

You stare, asking why
What is going on here,
There are grapes and
Lilies,
With a skull
And two chairs.

True it can be read
We do all the time,
But stand and see
How the colours combine
Finding a harmony,
An untold rhyme.

The pink tip of that rose
Echoes in the sky,
Giving a painting
A sudden surprise
Which shimmers the greyness
In her shadowed brow.

If one moves ones eyes
Finds different ways
To enter this world
The artist has made,
You'll come to see
Paintings are not just for Reading.

Love Mary **

The stillness
After the cat had gone
The house seemed empty,
Devoid of soft patter;
Downstairs,
The shaking of biscuits on tin- foil
And the long slow meow
Of a morning yawn.
The warm spot in the garden
Now an obvious space,
Plantless from years of basking.
Only the birds seemed grateful
Peace had returned to their world,
No more feathered grassways
To clear.
We buried you in front of the fir tree,
You were part of eighteen Christmases
Our very dear black and white cat.

Love the kearns family