In memory of my father

Tall with broad shoulders.

When I was a little girl

You were tall with broad shoulders.

You didn’t show your emotions,

While your face remained calm

Underneath the turmoil ran deep.

As I grew up I got to know you,

Your eyes would sparkle with

Humour and flash with anger

I never heard you swear until

I was thirteen.

I went away for a year at seventeen

When I returned you had mellowed.

I think you fell in love again,

With your bride of twenty seven years.

Now I am a grown woman and

To all appearances you are an old man.

But to me you will always be

Tall with broad shoulders.

Shelley Ornsby

27/10/2004