What wealth I come from!
To me it’s just the norm
To have been loved so well so warm
My mother’s love for me my father’s too
My sisters, brother and Bruce our dog
And friends and wider family
And genealogy it widened up my world
Cousins in Tyldesley cousins in Manchester
Cousins in Mayo as far as you could go
And cousins across the sea
Cousins met just once
When they came from Chicago
All this world of wonder and connection
I belong they belong to me
What would Larkin make of this?
He felt the other side of things
I guess
Lonely child
Home a cold recess
Who saw with eyes unblinking
‘In everyone there sleeps
A sense of life lived according to love’
For most this means
‘All they might have done had they been loved’
Agree
If we are not loved we will be ill
No warmth no comfort
Just the bitter chill
In all my struggles
Searching for my life
I have been loved
How rich am I!
Brian Fahy
22 May 2021
Erris Poetry 