Just over five years ago my parents scattered the ashes of my eldest sister here on the White Horse<\/i><\/p>\n
She had died in an accident <\/i><\/p>\n
My parents never came to terms with our loss <\/i><\/p>\n
They never smile <\/i><\/p>\n
A light has been extinguished <\/i><\/p>\n
Polly was lying in the long day grasses<\/p>\n
I have composed a short poem <\/i><\/p>\n
Adam looked into the middle distance at the cement works and the railway line that ran past it<\/p>\n
When I was at school I could see the tall chimney of the cement works from my classroom window <\/i><\/p>\n
I was always able to tell the weather by the direction of the smoke released into the Westbury winds <\/i><\/p>\n
I am never seen it smoking <\/i><\/p>\n
It packed up many years ago <\/i><\/p>\n
Polly smiled at her husband who was running a reed of grass between his fingers<\/p>\n
May I hear your poem?<\/i><\/p>\n
It is very poor<\/i><\/p>\n
Where did it originate from?<\/i><\/p>\n
It originated from my heart<\/i><\/p>\n
Well as the keeper of your heart I insist that you read it to me <\/i><\/p>\n
The wheat is being collected
\nThe sun is being reflected
\nSummer is at its height
\nLet us not wish for the night <\/i><\/p>\n
Nether Polly or Adam spoke they watched as a London bound train raced by through the late summer fields below<\/p>\n
I fear that it is late and catching up on time <\/i><\/p>\n
Adam did not answer<\/p>\n
Polly gripped his hand tightly<\/p>\n
Do you know that on the day Mum and Dad released Lucy\u2019s ashes they were delayed by a chap who had climbed down on to the eye of the white horse<\/i><\/p>\n
It seems that he was reliving a childhood adventure<\/i><\/p>\n
At first Mum and Dad did not want to disturb him as he was having so much fun<\/i><\/p>\n
But the eye was also Lucy\u2019s favourite spot and they felt that was where she belonged <\/i><\/p>\n
The stranger was most apologetic when he was asked if he would let them scatter Lucy\u2019s ashes and give them time to reflect on her life\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
The strange thing was that the stranger a man of about fifty then simply vanished <\/i><\/p>\n
It was as if he had not existed at all <\/i><\/p>\n
Polly began digging a small hole in a gap between the long grasses<\/p>\n
What are you doing? <\/i><\/p>\n
I am digging a small hole so that I may deposit my poem here<\/i><\/p>\n
Perhaps Lucy will read it after we leave <\/i><\/p>\n
Polly carefully placed the small sheet of paper on which the poem was written into a shallow intrusion<\/p>\n
She covered the poem so that the winds would not release it<\/p>\n
For you Lucy <\/i><\/p>\n
As they were walking down the steep hill towards the town Adam turned to his wife<\/p>\n
Your poem did it have a title?<\/i><\/p>\n
Not really but I think I may call it The Shadow Fathers <\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just over five years ago my parents scattered the ashes of my eldest sister here on the White Horse She had died in an accident My parents never came to terms with our loss They never smile A light has been extinguished Polly was lying in the long day grasses I have composed a short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}