ALWAYS IN MY HEART

 

ALWAYS IN MY HEART…  Maureen Clifford ©  The #ScribblyBarkPoet 

https://soundcloud.com/maureen-clifford-scribblybark-poetry/always-in-my-heart

 

He sat by the fire with a cold beer or two close at hand.

His Akubra was battered and worn, dirty round the sweat band.

On the gum tree nearby, he had tethered his mate,

who was happy to rest and contented to wait.

Whilst the old dog lay dreaming of rabbits and pigs he had chased.

 

The day had been long, and the old bloke was long past his prime.

He longed for his homeland and thought often of the dreamtime.

He wondered if one day he would make it back.

Travel wearisome miles down the Nullabor track,

see the salt pans and spinifex plains, refresh memories erased.

He thought of the women he'd loved, the young bride he had wed.

He often felt her presence at night though years she'd been dead.

Many times as he lay down to sleep under stars,

he regretted the time that he'd wasted in bars.

And the dollars he'd wasted on horses that on grass tracks raced.

But no time for regrets for old times, what was done now was done.

A home's never home when you're living there all on your own.

Which was why he was here tonight staring at walls,

 just him and the dog and old memories recalled,

though with family, happiness, love, his life had once been graced.

 

Somewhere in the city he'd two kids who'd grown up alone.

As a father he won no awards, needed now to atone.

Many years had passed by; he missed his son and daughter,

he realized blood was much thicker than water.

What to do was the question he asked and the problem he faced.

 

He knew that to settle the feud someone must make a start.

He'd head for the city tomorrow, waste no time apart.

He hoped that for his sins he would be forgiven,

 by love and by need he was desperately driven.

He knew he had let them down badly and himself disgraced.

That decision now made; he rolled out his swag for the night.

Safely banked down the fire, and said prayers beneath heavenly light...

Sometime during the night, spirits stole him away,

 and he never returned to the city next day,

but when found, there beside him his old, battered Bible he'd placed.

Inside there were photos.  A pressed ribbon bound withered rose.

An old key, tarnished medals, a fob watch, a few words of prose.

The words were as follows and it's here I do quote,

 'I loved you every day’ were the words he had wrote.

'but on my selfish dreams my own life I now realize was based.

 

I wish every day we could all be together once more.

With your Mum and us laughing and happy like we were before.

But I know in my heart of hearts this cannot be,

 so, I hope and I pray that you can forgive me.

For my heart held my love for you always in a sweet embrace.'