Do You Recall Charcoal Rubbings? Poem by Mark Heathcote

When childlike excitement filled our minds
do you recall charcoal rubbings?
Its x-ray moments of a kind
holding tight to those black grubbings
do you recall in your amusement?
Their lipstick collar memories how
in our daily enslavement:
they're like charred embers of time now
do you recall charcoal rubbing?
Do you recall gravestones and feeling gleeful?
Seeing what your eyes could see retouching
those names and dates for you weren't they medieval?
But oh how time passes and leaves you cold
until one day, it's you who's feeling primaeval
a gravestone charcoal rubbing, burnt-out old.