I am 63 today and it is my first birthday without my parents. Daddy died on 22nd December 2020. Mammy died on 25th March 2021.
In 1967 or 1968, while we were staying with my Dad's sister and family in Hemel Hempstead, we took a day trip into London, and, of course, Trafalgar Square was a principal destination.
Like in so many people's family photos, my parents are 'missing' here. But I am deeply grateful for their unwavering presence for almost 63 years - their unconditional love, their generosity, their kindness. They were loved by so many. They still are.
No one can see you
but we know you are there
behind the camera
in the same way we know
you are still with us now.
in our blood, in each cell,
even the breaths we take:
we breathe you in, hold you
for a short while, before
we have to let you go.
You ebb and flow in us
like the tide, wax and wane
like the moon. You are still
our earth, our eternal sky.
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