Mamie. Poem by PAUL COLVIN

A Saturday meant Whiteinch baths, I want those days, so many laughs.
Scared of water, full of fear, the reason Mamie brought me here.
I was five and she eleven, the swimming pool, to her was heaven.
Her confidence was really high and from the highest board she’d dive.

She’d jump right off and straighten out, then disappear completely.
A perfect dive, it went so fast, she’d reappear so neatly.
All I could do was watch in awe, a rubber ring around my waist,
Dangling in the pool below, I’d watch her glide with haste.

I loved to watch my sister swim, it seemed like nothing fazed her
But she was good, if not the best, at her age, in the water.
I loved those days, they’re memories now, but still I have a smile
I now can swim and owe it all, to Mamie’s special style.

Sometimes we’d miss and down the road, there was this magic place.
Where dreams came true, if for a day, inside this comfy palace.
The seats were huge, the ceilings high, ornate in red and gold
I’d wriggle round then stare at screen, I’m five not very old.

The lights go out and darkness falls and that’s the magic sign
Then through the black, there shines a beam, a single little line
The clicking sounds and flickering light, that’s how “flicks” got its name,
The picture starts, the screen’s alive, a hush now fills the air.

Near the end, I hear a scream and turn to Mamie frightened
She tells me lies and deathly tales, so awful, I start crying.
Banshees wail, fly through the air with horses white and ghostly,
They’re scaring me, I want to go but Mamie scared me mostly.