The Parents Call 1980 Poem by Terry Collett

We arrive
in Scotland
(Edinburgh)

and find the
old guest house
and book in

and settle
in our room
with one bed

(a double)
a tall boy
chest of drawers

and a small
old dressing
table near

the window
well we're here
Rachel says

here alone
just us two
I watch her

standing there
our parents
(her father

my mother)
back at home
wondering

where we were
five hours long
train journey

I utter
wanting to
undress her

and get her
into bed
but stand there

waiting for
her to say
do you think

they will know
where we are?
she asks me

of course not
how could they?
she's unsure

and anxious
Daddy'll be
mad at us

going off
like we have
I hold her

close to me
kiss her neck
we're here now

as we planned
in Scotland
us alone

in this room
us lovers
she turns round

and we kiss
the best kiss
that we have

ever had
and we're free
to kiss now

and make love
in the bed
without fear

our parents
will see us
and she is

probably
thinking of
her father

the doctor
and I think
of Mother

the staff nurse
suspecting
she was right

when she said
to me when
I came out

of Rachel's
room last night
and she said

I don't want
you in her
room ever

again do
you hear me?
we are here

in our room
now Mother
and we will

get undressed
into bed
and make love

not just once
but maybe
more than that

it's raining
Rachel says
can't go out

and we look
at the bed
then undress

and we're there
together
stark naked

listening
to rain fall
while back home

the echo
of parents
and their call.