Different Poem by Tony Jolley

“It’ll be different! ”,
He said,
Not perhaps knowing
Quite how right
His light-hearted line
Would prove to be.

“It’ll be different! ”
It was one of any number
Of comments and encouragements
Rather than judgements:
More excited exhortation
Than portent or prognostication.

“Let’s see if I haven’t got this right, ”
He said….

“You’re leaving your country,
Your home and your family,
Going to lecture in a French university,
Reawakening a long-lost language facility,
Moving from town to a village mentality
To marry the lass you lost in your history
To love her and the kids and give them security…?
It seems a pretty tall order to me
But to you it doesn’t appear to be –
The weight on your shoulders has lifted: you’re free;
So JFDI, no more wait n see! ”

Well, I went
And it was
And we are
And will be,
Just as my old Dad
Told it to me.