Two-Up Two-Down

Returning to Belfast after many years abroad, I visit the house and street where I grew up and see how it has changed......

        Two-Up Two-Down.

                                  ©Con Mulholland (24/10/2015).

 

Two up, two down, in Belfast town, like soldiers in a row

Its red-face brick, now wears a frown, from which the memories grow

Where often I played street games, and not come in ‘til late

Where distant Mums called our names, and “Yer dinners’ on the plate.”

 

                                  The privet hedge no longer there, its denseness I did comb                                

Replaced with brick without a care, no Caterpillars roam

A garden only two-foot wide, rose petals on its soil

Concrete slabs now coldly hide, Dad’s labour, love and toil

 

Remembering those old capers, of Saturdays and tin baths

Backing books with wallpaper, exchanging tears for laughs

Catapults were made by boys, German Jumps by girls

Elastic bands were simple toys, imaginative worlds

 

Hide and Seek and Kick the Tin, Hop Scotch and Red-Rover

Building Guiders that would win, those childhood days long over

And as I pass Two-up Two-down, now PVC and chrome

Warm memories in my heart abound, this house that was my home.

 

Reviews

[Cody]

Nostalgia and melancholy cut with a little bit of humor, “Yer dinners’ on the plate.” did make me chuckle a bit. Also very vivid descriptions of your childhood home, I've never been there but I feel like I can picture it. I think sometimes great prose does this not necessarily by making me see exactly what the poet is describing but by capturing a feeling or memory in a way that is familiar and universal. When I read this poem I'm reminded of my own childhood and so I'm feeling the rush of emotion and nostalgia that comes from that while reading this.

I'm also reminded of my own poem I wrote called "Childhoods End" and while that is certainly a shameless plug I honestly only mention it because it is very similar in tone and subject matter to this so I thought you might be interested in reading it.