Family Time

Twenty years? At least...  Since the Saturday
you last bounded in to wake us with your cry
It’s family time! – jumping on the bed,
then burrowing down between us while we groaned,
pleading for another hour of sleep.

On the rare weekends you’re home again, we both
tiptoe to allow you to dream on
after your heavy five day slog. We wait
until we hear you stir, then bring you tea,
avoiding words till later, over lunch

when we’ll ask about your work, your friends, or sport,
or joke about the government, or skate
over a war, in Gaza, or Ukraine...
But never mentioning a memory
so unforgotten, but now burrowed oh
                                             so deep.

Tom Vaughan

If you have any thoughts about this poem, Tom Vaughan  would be pleased to hear them