Mersey Mersey Me (CTG)

[ChrisGeorge]

Mersey Mersey Me

Mum, you have asked that I cast
your ashes in the River Mersey,
the muddy Mersey I see broil
behind as you stand windblown
on the Pier Head landing stage,
Seacombe ferry surging to nudge
giant tires with a rubbery kiss
as sailors tie the ferry up,
the muddy Mersey that flowed
down the bottom of our road,
at Otterspool prom: expanse
of sun-glinting gooey flats
at low tide decorated with
ditched pram, kiddie's bike:
scene I painted in the Sixties,
that hung in your living room, til
I gave it to grass-high friends.
Mersey Mersey me, I think of
you as I attend a Ripper event
in a big white marquee beside
the Liverpool Cricket Club:
rain clouds sweeping in from
the distant Welsh hills, over
the Mersey's whitecapped waves,
past the benign cream stucco
walls of Battlecrease House,
where lived James Maybrick,
who may have been the Ripper,
Mersey Mersey me, I think of
you as I scatter your ashes.

Christopher T. George

[lindylou]

Excellent Chris. I like that

[Steven]

A lovely piece Chris.

[ChrisGeorge]

Thank you, Steven and Lindy.

Chris

[gregs dad]

( For those born before 1940)
We were born before television,before penicillin,polio shots,frozen foods Xerox,contact lenses,videos and the pill.We were before radar,credit cards,split atoms,laser beams and ball-point pens,before dishwashers,tumble driers,electric blankets,air conditioners,drip-dry clothes...and before man walked on the moon.
We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?). We thought fast food was what you ate in Lent,a `Big Mac`was an oversized raincoat and `crumpet`we had for tea.We existed before house-husbands,computer dating and `sheltered accommodation`was where you waited for a bus.
We were before day care centres,group homes and disposable nappies.We never heard of FM radio,tape decks,artificial hearts,word processors,or young men wearing ear rings. For us`time sharing`meant togetherness, a chip was a piece of wood or fried potato, `hardware`meant nuts and bolts and software wasn`t a word.
Before 1940 `Made in Japan`meant junk, the term`making out`referred to how you did on your exams,`stud` was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and going `all the way`meant staying on a double decker bus to the terminus.
In our day,cigarette smoking was `fashionable`,`grass` was mown,`coke`was kept in the coalhouse,a`joint`wasa piece of meat you ate on sundays.`Rock music` was a fond mother`s lullaby,`Eldorado`was an ice cream, a `gay person` was the life and soul of the party, while `aids`just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.
We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy lot when you thinkof the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make.No wonder there is a generation gap today...BUT

By the grace God..... we have survived!

gregs dad
my flickr site ;www.flickr.com/photos/exacta2a

[Steven]

Very well expressed greg's dad. You brought back a few memories for me.

[Steven]

Can I ask you Chris for permission to send this to some friends ? All credits to you and just between my friends and family.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Steven

No problem whatsoever. You have my permission to sent my poem to friends and family. Thanks for asking, mate.

Chris

Chris your poem was great. I have had my dad scattered in the Mersey too just as he wanted to be. He never was a landlubber and to think of him coming and going out with the tide reflects his love for the sea.

Gre,gs dad, smashing post there mate, and you,ve got a great flickr site there too. It,s not the first time I,ve seen it. Keep the photos coming mate.

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks, greg's dad and chippie. Mum's not dead yet but she recently expressed a wish to have her ashes scattered in the Mersey which got me thinking about the matter. . .

Chris