AUNTIE ROSE

Auntie Rose
lived next door to us
here in Southwick.
Twenties flapper hat
Twenties clothes
Twenties shoes
...it was 1964.
Faded, but still glamourous.
Retired buyer
for Debenhams of Brighton.
Never married.
Every Tuesday
after primary school
I'd go round for tea.
Tinned herring roes on toast
Cheese and onion crisps
a game of snap
then home to bed.
Every Tuesday
I'd marvel at her outside toilet
with the big spiders
her garden
with the stag beetles
her living room
with furniture from a bygone age
and a grandfather clock
from an even more bygone age
and her mantelpiece
crammed with stuff.
There were two pictures on it.
One of her as a little girl
standing with the Southwick football team
in the 1890s
and one of a man
standing in a field
leaning on a rifle.

I'd always wondered
so one day, aged about eight,
I asked the question.
'Auntie Rose,
Why did you never get married?'

She smiled.
Tears came to her eyes.
She pointed to the photo.

'The man in the photo
is the man I was going to marry.
He was killed in the First World War.
I never loved anyone else
So I never got married, John.
That's why'.

I looked at her.
'That's really sad, Auntie!'
She smiled bravely.
We had another game of snap.