You would have found me.....

 

You would have found me in a perambulator

or on a small seat fixed to my mother's bicycle

It was a time of austerity, of making do with

socks that were darned and pullovers knitted

 

Our home was a prefabricated bungalow

erected along with others on a bomb site

The German Airforce had re landscaped the area

everything appeard to be new and so it was

 

As a family we cycled and walked for miles

along country lanes and into town

This was until the motorbike and sidecar arrived

a fearful machine known for its noise and discomfort

 

I was often found in the kitchen

with a small aluminium whistling kettle

I had an inexplicable attraction for it

there I helped with the baking of cakes and scones

 

The backdrop of a war was where I could be found

surrounded by bombed buildings

Food was rationed, so I grew up

feeling punished for no reason

 

You would have found me

at home happily amusing myself

Mother listening to the wireless

Father at work after years abroad in the Army

 

You would have found me day dreaming

of growing in a love for all animals and comics

You would have found me in 1940's England

under an English sun