Greenlane Poetry

Painting By Numbers

I am at the back
with brush in hand and bitten lip
grass at bottom sky at top
next to beaming Marjorie who died
smiles and frowns on many infant faces
many I recall though some are lost

By the bench
where I stand is visual-aid for sums above
three birds four flowers five cherries
six orange pippins carrots seven swans
we later painted skylarks seventeen

And seventeen
the guiltless faces sometime learning grass
grows upward sky comes down
and somewhere out of sight they meet

but never meet again the many
doctors soldiers jailbirds lovers parents
many grandmas - many flowers
on many graves