Once Upon A Time Poem by John F. McCullagh

My song concerns a buried grief
Another place and time
A sorrow that our clan endured,
In the days of Auld ang Syne.


Our parents’ lives hold mysteries
We seldom can divine
Like why my Dad would leave the room
When he’d hear Auld Ang Syne


The faces at the table change
The names effaced by time
We struggle to remember them
Back once upon a time


His sister, Kat, nursed old and sick
In the Flu Pandemic times
Then her bright candle sputtered out
Back once upon a time.

When her father heard the news
He nearly lost his mind
He never after sang again
And seldom would he smile


Her brother up in Aberdeen
Heard as New Year Chimed
He dried his tears upon his sleeve
To the strains of Auld Ang Syne


The faces at the table change
The names effaced by time
We struggle to remember them
Back once upon a time