She knows the
names
of the trees
on their walk
through
stippled grave stones,
untamed
grasses.
Spring sun
spears
fat broad
leaves
Moreton Bay
Fig,
Acacia,
Larch.
He wonders and
wanders,
from tomb to
tomb:
the naming of
things,
a mythical art
too puzzling
for him to scry out.
“Oh look! An
anchor,”
salvage of
ship-wreck,
called in now
for memory's mark.
“Was it Cutty
or Dunbar?”
he used to
remember,
worrying now
that it's all gone, too far.
“It's ok
darling,
let's visit
your Mother”
nervous of what
they called
'undue
distress'.
Gently she
guides him,
past white
mausoleums
small mound,
black cross,
Robyn's nest.
“She's dead?”
and he kneels,
“Ten years in
November”
“It doesn't
seem possible”
“Well it's
quite certain now.”
“You're
angry.”
“Just tired.
I want to go home.”
“Well we
shall,
by the
butcher's.”
And so they
return.
Past Moreton
Bay Fig,
Acacia
and...
?