So you’re getting married

Today, I did a circuit of the squirrel park;

it’s twenty years since you named it that.

So you’re getting married soon, and I go for a walk

and I’m on this memorial bench where we once sat

and you had a serious, five-year-old talk

about everything, and then fed acorns to a tree-rat.

 

I have a photograph of you under a tree.

The tree looks massive, and you look very small.

Every time I look at it, it captures me.

In those days trees were especially tall.

 

One day you’ll take your baby to feed squirrels,

and under those tall trees you’ll feel the passage of time

as a handful of baby’s fingers grip just one of yours

just like when yours held on to one of mine.

 

By Copland Smith

 

‘So you’re getting married’ is a Highly Commended poem in the Stepping Stones Nigeria Poetry Competition 2011.