AS IT WAS.

A GIRL AND HER SEASSIDE MEMORIES

Ginny loved it

when the time came

 

For their annual trip

to the seaside

 

And her father rented

the house with the big garden

 

that lead onto the sea.

She and her brothers and sister

 

Looked forward to it

every year and it seemed the sun

 

shone almost constantly

And the house seemed

 

as it was the year before

nothing changed nothing new

 

just the same rooms

and outlook and young Lily the maid

 

who came each year too

to help their mother

 

around the house

and watch

 

the younger children.

Her mother

 

Was the organiser

the one who seemed most near

 

to the children who seemed

to know the children’s needs

 

and wants and tried to keep

her husband happy

 

and allow him

his space and quiet

 

which he valued most of all.

Ginny liked it

 

when the sea was out

and there was plenty of sand

 

to play on to make a sand castle

with a moat and drawbridge

 

made from small pieces of driftwood

found on the beach.

 

But once her mother died

the seaside house

 

seemed less welcoming

the sea seemed

 

hardly ever to go out  

than it was back again

 

the sun was less warm

less friendly

 

and her father

would mope

 

around the house

moaning and groaning

 

In his grief and bellowing

at Lily the maid

 

to do this and do that

making her cry

 

and only at night

when all were asleep

 

and Ginny was snuggled

Down in bed did it seem

 

as it was when her mother

would enter the room

 

and sit on the bed

and smile and whisper

 

the words she used to

placing a ghostly hand

 

on Ginny’s brow

and kiss her cheek.

 

Ginny remembered the house

By the sea years later

 

with the yellowy sand

And walking with Lily

 

the maid

hand in hand.

Author's Note

ART BY ALFRED GLENDENING