Thanks for your email, Paula.
I’m certain it involves gravy
and roast potatoes cooked
impatiently. I won’t make it
on Parky and I’m already
the age of a third choice goalkeeper,
but I will see faces in tree trunks,
celebrate putting socks on standing up,
and eat crisps from time to time.
I will be the old lady in the park
who’s watching my son laughing
at daisies in the grass. She’s holding
her husband’s hand and crying
in that way you do
when you realise nothing will be
the same, and that’s OK.

© Carl Burkitt 2022