Tag Archives: childhood

The Birthday Hat

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When I was five the other day,
Candles pink and candles white,
Daddy’s sister came to tea,
Candles pink and white.

She brought a birthday hat for me,
Roses pink and roses white,
A summer hat of golden straw,
Roses pink and white.

I wore my hat upon the beach,
Ribbons pink and ribbons white,
The warm wind blew it out of reach,
Ribbons pink and white.

We chased it far across the sand,
Sea-shells pink and sea-shells white,
And came back laughing, hand in hand,
Sea-shells pink and white.
For Bessie, August 1981

Summer Days

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We took our teddies on the beach,
My cousin Camilla and I.
The golden sands reached down to the sea
And the sea stretched away to the sky.
We played all day by the edge of the tide
With the seagulls circling high,
And at night we dreamt of our day on the beach,
The teddies, Camilla and I.

August 1982

Farmhouse delivery

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Now Charles appears, the latest of the line,
Arising with the sun to claim his day.
No midwife needed for this noisy lad,
Impatient to arrive and print his tracks
Upon the fields of Life,
Untouched by parents’ fears who, faute de mieux,
Learn as they go, respecting nature’s hour
Which clearly waits for none.
But all is well and anguish cedes to joy
As James and Lucy birth their bonny boy.

Let blessings fall as plenteous as the rain
And love and hope their family sustain!

With love and congratulations 28.7.01
Daddy