07 Happy Families Fade

Written for the “My First Sing-A-Long Dictionary” RPM 2010 project.

See myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com/

Daddy’s away
Posted abroad
Sending home pay
All he can afford
Mummy pretends
But I notice that something has changed
The letters home slow and then disappear
And mummy’s new friend is starting to spend every night here.

Daddy’s flown home
Looking his age
Doesn’t go out
Except on a race day
Mummy looks young I suppose
And wears all her prettiest clothes
With her night-schools and works-dos she’s never here
And Daddy will not play until one day he’s heard to say
“I’ll hide and you seek me, my dear”
And kisses my cheek.

Mummy’s gone out
She’s left breakfast made
I doubt that today
I’ll go to the playground
Where hopscotch is laid
The chalk marks are starting to fade
The outline is starting to fade
Soon we will not be able to tell where daddy was found.

Was it here?
Not for the very sensitive.