Tug Dumbly # 56 - Parents are a Puzzle to be Handed on

Parents are a Puzzle to be Handed on  

‘I don’t want to die

without you knowing who I am’.

That’s what you once said to me, Mum.

Parents are a puzzle to be handed on.

‘I won’t always have you,

I haven’t got you now’, I think 

to look at my daughter and son.

They’ll come to sing this self same song.

Like old boardgames

with some pieces gone – Scrabble,

Cluedo, Monopoly, Mahjong –

Parents are a puzzle to be handed on.

I know a part

of the song you sung, but will

never cease trying to learn that song,

a madrigal roundelay, long and long

my children will riddle at when I’m gone

some spilling mystery

that refills as it runs, sings 

‘bless all our sweet sun-buttered skulls …

Parents are a puzzle to be handed on

Parents are a puzzle to be handed on’.