This page is for poems that I’ve become aware of following the closure of the project but which are great Good Dad poems and deserve a wider audience!

 

To Lauren – by Gill Wyatt

I have watched him
clutch you to his chest,
fingers splayed, secure.
He kisses your forehead,
precious, close.
Talks to you more gently than I have ever heard him speak.

His rough hands, accustomed to construction
lift you from your crib, stroke your downy hair
and place your tiny feet in socks and babygrows.
The voice that banters on a building site
whispers, ‘I love you.’

I watch his face frown with anxiety
as you thrash and sob against him.
I marvel as he rocks you,
as I rocked him.
He turns away, hiding silent tears
as your determined eyes slowly close.
Exhausted, he lays you down to sleep.

He has lost the will for fame or money.
Offence falls from him unnoticed now.
His world, his love,
is you, and your mum.

…………..

…………..

Gill Wyatt is a retired nurse and midwife who now spends much of her time writing. She wrote this poem to her granddaughter, Lauren. Gill’s son lives nearby and she was often able to help her son and daughter-in-law out in those difficult early days. Gill has written three novels which make up The Aurora Trilogy available from https://tinyurl.com/ycryw322.