07/25/2024
Remember that pandemic thing?
When I compiled my collected works of poetry and poetry-song, I managed to overlook this little heartache of a poem. I shall now add it in, I think it deserves its place. BTW, you may have realised my post of my complete works (actually two posts, too big for one post!) I took down almost immediately on the advice of my prospective publishing friend Peter . Him busy just now, but has me on list list. Means so much to me.
I wonder how this couple are today.
Enjoy your lives, it is not a rehearsal. x
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'I Touch The Screen'
by Trevor Valentine
Care homes are perhaps one of the main epicentres in these covid times. So much heartache surrounds them. I’m not sure if you heard the lady on the radio yesterday, recounting in such a stoically secure way that she hadn’t been able to meet with her husband of almost 60 years. He is in a home for his care needs. She used to visit daily. And they shared their remaining days. Then covid came and changed all that, and she hasn’t been able to be with him since March. But, in her 80’s, she zooms with him a couple of times a week it seems. Her only option now. Her words were ‘I touch the screen’. They haunt my mind.
'I Touch The Screen'
by Trevor Valentine
12:10 Thu 19 Nov
“I remember our first day
The smile, the hand, the hope
While around us teddy boys played
And mods took on rockers
And Woodstock heralded so many new faces
And voices rang through protest songs
We were there, you and I
Together.
And much like all other lovers
We held hands and more
And never spent a night apart
It was the holding, the nearness
Which I treasured
The family grew and distanced
But we still held hands
And watched each other’s back
And loved whenever we could.
The smile lengthened
As did the days
The constant energy
Drained
But the love endured
And now, in our later lives
We take our part
Apart for your care
But I still came
And held your hand
And talked
Love still rules
I look to the day
When I can do the same again
By your side
And breathe through the fog
Which now addles your thoughts
For some reason
Not understood by many
I accept all this distance
And put it into the context
Of our full life
For the moment
I can only touch the screen
But that will do.
I love you.”
