Love Poem by John Rickell

They came to sit beside me
A mother and her son
He was sixty if a day
Looked ill, dark sockets, half awake.
Concerned eyes staring at his mother,
Her walking frame and stick
Leaning on the table.

He asked a simple question
Her reply I did not catch
Her face said all she had to say,
Bland, smooth-skin and vacant eyes.
This was for them, a day in town
To shop and make a change
Before returning home
Where-ever and what-ever.

We did not speak or smile
I was outside their world,
They'd brought it with them
Couldn't shake it off.

As they left he rose first
Took the stick,
Set up the walking frame,
Not a word between them.
I tried to draw his eye....
Cast down, tired and grey.

Out through the door he led her
And they were gone.....
Their world gone with them,
Like a tortoise in its shell
Not a lot to carry..........
Far too much to lose.