Margaret Gosden
BLUE MONDAY
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CAUGHT IN THE ACT!
Blue sea, blue sky, blue swimmer too,
A summery interlude.
A youthful girl devoid of guile,
In a sweetly innocent mood.
'What a scene of bliss!' I thought;
'What glorious relaxation!
With the water lapping round her feet
A natural pure sensation!'
She looked so young and innocent
In so many ways,
Until I followed the direction
Of her very obvious gaze!
*
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REMINISCENCES OF A GHOST
For many a year I've haunted this old haberdashers store;
A hundred, maybe two or three; it could be even more.
I have drifted round the counters and swirled around the shelves
And toyed with old-time order-books lying sadly by themselves.
I have moaned a little, softly, and wept a tear or two;
I have done the requisite ghostly things a ghost like me should do.
Of course, 'they' never saw me; I've always been quite shy;
Though, sometimes someone caught a glimpse out of the corner of an eye.
I had grown accustomed to solitude; life lived alone at night;
I had almost forgotten the old times and love and its delight.
'My' shop was in a museum and it made my heart rejoice
To hear it's praises sung each day by a visiting human voice.
*
But now even the half-life's over; 'they're' pulling the old place down.
'They' want to build a supermarket in this part of town!
And 'they've' cleared out the bales of cotton, all faded and tied with cord!
Those cottons that so reminded me of the man I so adored!
*
' I think the pink one, dearest'.... thus spoke my determined Mother.
'No, no! Mama!' I answered.'I much prefer the other!'
For hadn't Ernest told me that green was his favourite hue?
And hadn't I decided, then, that only the green would do?
In the end my Mother capitulated, sighing a maternal sigh;
She knew that I was determined, though she didn't understand why.
We took nearly all the green roll, leaving the pink aside.
And I knew, before the month was out, he'd ask me to be his bride.
Mother made me the prettiest ball-gown, with a neckline trimmed with lace
And I saw myself in the mirror, a picture of charm and grace.
*
But Ernest married another and I had no heart to give
To any other suitor. I lost the will to live.
They said I died of consumption, but I died of a broken heart;
What was the point of living since we had to live apart?
So I came to haunt the haberdashers, where I'd once been glad,
I was a delicate little ghost, in sprigged green cotton clad.
*
Now 'they've' thrown out the bales of cotton; 'rubbish' they said it was,
And my poor heart broke for the second time when they did that because
They were my link to a happier time. Now I'll be departing soon
To continue my ghostly existence somewhere beyond the moon.
*
