GREAT AUNT LIZZIE.

MEMORIES OF A GREAT AUNT.

Great Aunt Lizzie
Never kept her
Light under no
Bushel, although

A red light was
Rumoured by less
Careful members
Of the wider

Family when
They thought you weren’t
Listening as
A child. You found

An old picture
Of her amongst
Your grandmother’s
Box of photos

Pushed to the back
Of her woodworm
Ridden wardrobe,
With the scrawled word

Lizzy on the
Back in fading
Ink. She seemed a
Good-looking dame,

At least back then,
Not a bit like
The old lady
You once glimpsed at

A wedding, of
Whom your mother
Whispered to your
Father, she’s here,

There over by
The wall, never
Thought she’d show up
Here. Never one

To hide beneath
No bushel not
Even after
The red light went

Out, your Great Aunt
Lizzie, kept them
All busy, with
Gossiping and

Gazing, finger
Pointing and soft
Muttering, but
You loved the old

Photograph and
Kept it hidden
Between pages
Of Ezra Pound’s

Cantos for safe
Keeping and what
A way to end
Her days, tucked tight

Between Ezra’s
Cantos XXX
& XXXI
Resting in the

Dark, but maybe
Remembering
The lowlife and
High kicking fun.