Water Tender

The river
has not entered the house yet.

I pack framed photographs:
weddings, babies,
dead uncles, and grandparents,
set aside ceramic eggs,

balanced on wooden stands,
to reach the wedding cake couple,
equidistant between two photographs.

My mother,
in her borrowed wedding dress,
holding a bouquet of artificial flowers,
whiter than Aunt Rose Mary's silk skirt.

My father,
in his Navy uniform, bearing
the insignia of a Water Tender,

[...] Read more

poem by Mary Agnes Dalrymple
Added by Poetry Lover
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