For My Mum

I miss you mum.                                                                                                                   

Now you're gone but not forgotten.                                                                                                      

I was half a world away with my wife Carole, happy, married and in love.                              

Carole has your approval:                                                                                            

"Welcome to the family."                                                                                                              

Your words have gravity.                                                                                                         

My wife took your death badly.                                                                                                   

You gone, not to meet her.                                                                                                                                                                          

We're there for each other.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

I left my new home - Marikina, to fly to my old home - deprived Oldham.                                 

As I look at your room, sort out your jewellry, I think,                                                            

"You're gone now but not forgotten."                                                                                       

We didn't see eye to eye on some things but that didn't matter.                                              

What mattered was love, being a family and years together.                                                             

I won't forget you, my mum.