Mandy Baldwin Poems

One day, when I am very old
This hurt will be forgotten.
I’ll quietly, carefully, walk through the town
Button my coat against the cold
...

When I was a child the garden burst with marigolds.
Pungent tomatoes climbed the walls in the dusty sun
And new cut grass with daisies lying slaughtered
And ponds with drowning fan-tails and proud peonies
...

Naomi walked with me in the winter
Along a beach that was bleak and wide.
Like broken dolls propped up together
I was strong with her at my side.
...

In my mind I’m going home
Down long green lanes by an empty sea
To an old stone house, with lilac trees
And my Prudy-dog, to welcome me.
...

I was sitting by the water
When they told me it was ending
And the estuary birds flew over - crying, always crying, as I did then.
Then I knew that hope was gone
...

Your heartbeat that day.
Strange how I remember that.
Oh, I also bring to mind your eyes
And your hands I thought so beautiful
...

You with the sunset in your hair
And the slanting shadows from the hazel hedge
And the bats, flitting in the evening air
And the damp green stones by the waters edge.
...

It’s a fine irony, that’s all I can say.
Just as you’ve got yourself straight between the ears
You find those ears are attached to a structure that’s dropped six inches.
Don’t debate the point; you know it’s true:
...

There are unused numbers on my phone.
I don’t know why I keep them there when I will never call.
To dial them would be to call the time I was a daughter.
In my mind’s eye they go along with boxes left unopened
...

We, the survivors, salute you.
We stand, divided by the miles, having lived through half a century
Seen unimaginable changes, feared many which have never happened
Been taken unawares by others.
...