Portals…

portal

I’ve stepped through that portal
And gone back in my time
So painful the memories
Unrelenting the rhyme.
At the start of the Sixties
My friend’s brother caused a fuss
He fell out of a van
And fell under a bus.
Yet each of his family
Got on with their life
It didn’t do for poor folks
To dwell much on strife.
It was around the same time
That I lost my Dad too
Then later a brother
Then another one too.
But you got on with things
What else could you do
It was simply the way
That the colder winds blew.
Yet despite that
Everything wasn’t so bad
Many times
I was exceptionally glad
Of the family I had
And the friends that I made
And the sport, ah! The rugby
I so often played.
Then later a family I had of my own
Filling our lives with such joy
How happy we were as our own family grew
Even being quite poor just couldn’t annoy.
Yet pain then caught up
And destroyed a young life
And in its foul wake
It near took my wife
But we all fought together
We’d not let it win
We’ve now brought her home
Though she’s painfully thin.
Of course! There are portals
Which take me elsewhere
Sometimes to places
Where I haven’t a care
Yet the family portal
I’m drawn to the most
As the love that I feel there
Always keeps me on post.